


Prisoner of the Daleks

by Marcus_S_Lazarus



Series: The Twilight Storm [4]
Category: Doctor Who, Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Time War (Doctor Who)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:54:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23545717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marcus_S_Lazarus/pseuds/Marcus_S_Lazarus
Summary: An investigation of an abandoned fuelling station results in Bella and the Doctor finding themselves pitted against the most evil creatures in the universe, as Bella faces some uncomfortable personal truths.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor & Bella Swan
Series: The Twilight Storm [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1694503
Kudos: 10





	1. Tales in a Cell

**Author's Note:**

> The fourth story in my Doctor/Bella series, marking not only the first multi-chapter story, but also the first one using a pre-existing plot in the series (Albeit from a novel rather than a TV episode). Some dialogue will be taken and adapted from the original "Prisoner of the Daleks", and I will try and provide a summary of what happens in the scenes not included here when I can, but in general the story will only be focusing on those scenes where I think Bella's thoughts on the events taking place would be particularly interesting to see

As far as random trips went, so far my first 'mystery tour' in the TARDIS was proving to be a significant let-down; we'd arrived on an apparently deserted planet, wandered into what the Doctor had told me was an old refuelling station, and were now trapped in the computer data core while checking out some 'anomalies' in the base's systems, without nothing but an old skeleton for company- something that I was trying _not_ to think about- and no way out unless someone opened it at the other end.

Still, as dull as it was in there, there was no denying that it had given me an interesting chance to talk with the Doctor about his past without worrying about any other distractions. Hunger was a problem, of course, but the Doctor had managed to find a few biscuits and water in his pockets that had stopped me from starving to death- he claimed that he was able to go without food for longer than I was, even if I wondered how long he could last in that state-, and had been trying to teach me a couple of meditative techniques to help me cope with the worst of it.

Between meditation, the two of us had taken the opportunity to get to know each other better without worrying about distractions like piloting the TARDIS or exploring. I'd tried to tell him some things about my own past without giving away what the Cullens or the Quilettes were- it wasn't that I didn't doubt that the Doctor could keep their secrets, but neither of them were _my_ secret to tell-, but in the end his stories were easily more fascinating than mine would have been even if I'd told the Doctor everything.

The idea that the Loch Ness Monster and the Abominable Snowman were real- albeit both tools of an alien invasion- was definitely fascinating, but the thought that the man before me had met such diverse historical figures as Winston Churchill, Richard I _and_ Arthur Conan Doyle was literally _incredible_...

"So... you're serious?" I said as I looked at the Doctor in surprise as I processed what he'd just told me. "You actually found British explorers on the Moon in _1878_?"

"Yep," the Doctor said, from where he was sitting casually against the door, repeatedly tapping a spoon against the door in a manner that I recognised as an 'SOS' signal; it had struck me as a slightly pointless thing to do, but the Doctor had explained that the interconnected nature of the base- every piece of hardware eventually linking up to everything else, even if some of the data subroutines for transmitting digital information had been tampered with for some reason- meant that it was relatively likely to attract attention if someone came to the building, and using the sonic screwdriver ran the risk of depleting its power before someone came who could help. "Bit of a delicate situation, of course- wasn't certain at first if I should let it play out and develop into an alternate timeline or not; it might have been helped along by alien intervention but the expedition had still put the majority of the ships together using what _they_ knew-, but in the end the social implications of space travel for that time meant that it was easier to just get them to stop it and leave history intact."

"Uh... social implications?" I repeated curiously.

"Well, as an example, the pilot of one of the ships had a bit of a mental breakdown because he had been given a taste of freedom and control at the helm of the ship- in all fairness he _was_ very good at it; everyone said he was the best the expedition had-, and it went to his head," the Doctor said, shaking his head slightly regretfully as he reflected back on the subject of his story, even as he continued to tap the spoon against the door. "The importance of social status at that time meant that he'd never manage to get that far in society even with a talent like that- his father was only a coal miner, apparently; he mentioned his father dying in the mines but I didn't have the time to find out more about him-, and he ended up staging a mutiny that got most of the crew killed even before the ship was taken over-"

Further conversion was cut off when the door in front of us suddenly opened, revealing a small group of around five people, dressed in clothing that looked like it had been worn for a while, many of them carrying various-sized weapons, looking at the two of us in evident confusion.

"Hello!" the Doctor said, smiling at them as though nothing unusual had happened at all.

"Who the hell are you?" a large man who was probably the leader of the group before us asked, his voice a deep boom that reminded me briefly of the Cullens' baseball game.

"I'm the Doctor, and this is my friend Bella," the Doctor replied, nonchalantly standing up, turning around to lift me to my feet before he looked back at the crew, only for the leader to suddenly have a gun trained on a point directly between the Doctor's eyes.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Looking over at the Doctor's nonchalant attitude towards a gun being pointed at him, I pushed aside my almost automatic thought that this was my usual 'jinx' status kicking in; it looked like the Doctor was fairly used to this sort of thing happening to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the Doctor and Bella having encountered their allies for this particular adventure, the next chapter looks at Bella's first meeting with the most evil race in the universe...
> 
> Just to let you know, the incident with Victorian spacemen mentioned here took place in the novel "Imperial Moon", with the Fifth Doctor, Turlough and Kamelion; easily one of the best Past Doctor Adventures novels written, in my opinion


	2. Escape from Hurala

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those of you who haven’t read the original book, nothing major happened between the last chapter and this one; the Doctor deduced that the signal that drew him into the room was a trap, and the group wandered around the base a bit, but that was it until they opened a door and found three Daleks on the other side of it

As soon as the Doctor whispered the word ‘Dalek’ at the sight of the creatures on the other side of the now-open door in front of us, I knew we were in trouble; the brief glimpse I’d had of the creatures might have presented a slightly comical image- particularly with that arm that looked like a plunger; what was that actually meant to _do_?-, but the sheer air of cold malice they presented was enough to stop any thoughts of amusement even before our new ‘allies’- I couldn’t call them ‘friends’ when they were probably still suspicious about us- started firing at them, the Doctor forcing Stella and the man who appeared to be the group’s leader out of the way as one of the Daleks fired an energy weapon of some sort.  
  
“ **AQUIRING SECONDARY TARGET**!” the Dalek said, its eyestalk shifting from us to another man on the stairs above and behind us. “ **EXTERMINATE**!”  
  
Before it could fire, the other man fired his own weapon, the resulting explosion briefly blocking the Daleks from view long enough for us to turn around and run down the corridor, the other man joining us as he went.  
  
“How did you do that?” the Doctor asked, looking at our recent saviour as we ran up the stairs. “Guns don’t work on Daleks.”  
  
“This one does,” the man replied, the savage grin on his face briefly reminding me of Jacob. “We’re Dalek bounty hunters.”  
  
“Is that right?” the Doctor asked, a gleam of hope in his eyes that briefly made me feel better; if the Doctor was looking hopeful, maybe we _could_ get out of this...  
  
“ **ELEVATE**!” a voice said from behind us; I forced myself not to look back and continued focusing on the Doctor’s efforts to urge us forward, hauling Stella up when she stumbled as we reached the top of the stairs. I didn’t even stop to think about which way we were going; as one of the crew shot the door lock behind us, I just kept running after the group’s leader, dashing from building to building, until we reached a junction and the Doctor grabbed my arm.  
  
“This way!” he said, smiling briefly at me before he looked at the others. “Our ship’s in this direction; we’ll be safe in there!”  
  
“We don’t need your ship; we’re heading for the _Wayfarer_ ,” the commander said, even as Stella looked at the Doctor with a slight hint of hope that reminded me of the way I’d felt when I first saw the Doctor’s incredible machine...  
  
“ **HALT** ,” a Dalek said, sliding into view at the end of the passageway that apparently led to the TARDIS- how the Doctor could be so sure our ship was that way I didn’t know; all these corridors looked alike to me-, “ **OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED**!”  
  
As the man who’d fired previously opened fire once again, the Dalek launched its own attack, the random nature of its blasts not detracting from the sense of danger as we were forced to join our new friends heading towards their ship, away from the TARDIS and the only way I had of getting home...  
  
As we reached what I presumed was a spaceport, the sight of the battered condition of the only ship present- the one that had to belong to the bounty hunts- didn’t exact fill me with confidence, but then I remembered my old truck and decided to ignore my current trepidations; so long as the people we were with had faith in it, that should be enough... I hoped.  
  
“She’s not full yet, but we’re good to go,” a man I hadn’t seen before, with a short build and grey hair tied back in a ponytail with a bit of green on the tip, said, as he unhooked the last of a bunch of cables from under the ship that had been linked to various squat machines around what I presumed was the ship’s landing pad. “Koral’s already onboard.”  
  
“Get her started!” the commander yelled, Daleks gathering around the ship as the squat man ran into the ship, what I hoped were the engines whining into life as we sprinted to the foot of the ramp. I barely even registered the pain in my legs as I ran for the ramp, the Doctor and the other man giving me and Stella a hand up onto the ramp as the commander provided covering fire...  
  
Then the ship lifted up into the air as the last of us made it onto the ramp, Stella and I exchanging relieved smiles- for the first time I’d been in danger from _guns_ , I thought I’d coped rather well-, only for the ship to suddenly stagger as something exploded outside, sending all of us off-balance.  
  
“Stella!” the Doctor yelled, running over to where she’d fallen; for a moment I was unable to stop a brief flash of jealousy- once again something else was more important than me-, but then I saw the large lump of metal in her thigh, blood spreading across her trousers, and any now-identified-as-irrational-jealousy was forgotten in face of the sudden urge I felt to be sick from the smell.  
  
“Oh, but that _hurts_ ,” she croaked.  
  
“It’ll be all right,” the Doctor said hurriedly. “It’s just a flesh wound. You’ll be OK.”  
  
“Hey, Stella said, smiling weakly at him. “I cross-trained as a medic, y’know. I can tell how bad it is.”  
  
“You’ll... you’ll be fine,” I said, crouching down to squeeze the other woman’s hand, forcing my own discomfort aside to focus on this new problem.  
  
“We’ve got no more medical supplies on board,” Stella continued; I wasn’t sure if she’d heard me or was just clarifying our current situation. “Used the last of them on Scrum.”  
  
“Stop talking,” the commander said as he stepped forward. “You need to get into the med room.  
  
“Yeah,” agreed the other soldier. “Man, that was close, but we’re OK. Everything’s gonna be fine, babe. We’re outta here.”  
  
“I’ll get the medical computers fired up,” the commander said, as I felt a sudden lowering feeling in my stomach that reminded me of the feeling you get when a plane takes off; we must be heading up. “Bring her through.”  
  
“Don’t waste your time,” Stella said as he left, somehow smiling despite the agony her leg must have been causing her. “You’ll be putting me back together with packing tape.”  
  
“Try not to talk,” the Doctor advised.  
  
“Hey, give a girl a break, I’m pleading for my life here...” Stella said, a weak smile still present even as her eyes began to tear up. “And don’t let Cuttin’ Edge operate, do you hear?” He can’t even use a knife and fork properly.”  
  
“Are you kiddin’?” said the soldier who’d fired at the Dalek originally (I’d heard that people in the military used callsigns before real names, but I’d never thought I’d encounter it in real life; who called themselves ‘Cuttin’ Edge’?), indicating the Doctor as he spoke. “I ain’t goin’ near that medical stuff. Never do. Anyway, _he’s_ the only doctor around here.”  
  
“He’s good,” I said as I looked at Stella, trying to be reassuring. “I met him when he saved my life.”  
  
“Doesn’t matter how good he is... given what little _we’ve_ got,” Stella said, laughing slightly as she looked at the Doctor. “Want my advice? Try one of those emergency cryo-charges. Freeze me and get me somewhere they can operate properly.”  
  
“Good idea,” the Doctor said.  
  
“Cryo-charges?” I asked.  
  
“They’d basically freeze Stella in her current condition; keep her alive long enough for us to-” the Doctor began, only to be cut off by a loud screech of metal as the interior airlock door suddenly seemed to acquire a massive dent before it was forced aside, exposing a Dalek on the other side.  
  
“Oh, _no_...” I whispered, desperately trying to figure out the best way to move Stella from her current position without making things worse; I _could_ move her, but if I jolted her too much that thigh wound was only going to get worse...  
  
“ **EXTERMINATE**!” the Dalek yelled, the arm that looked like a toilet plunger forcing the airlock’s shattered remains aside as it fired at Stella, the beam striking her in the small of her back, her skeleton momentarily illuminated even as Cuttin’ Edge opened fire in a scream of rage. Just as the Dalek had turned its own gun towards him, the Doctor hurled something at the sudden invader and the entire airlock was filled with a brilliant blue-white glare, sending us all briefly staggering back in surprise from the intensity of it.  
  
As the glare faded, I wondered if it had been a shock grenade of some kind, but then I felt the blast of cold air and saw the now-still Dalek, a chill white mist floating around its now-frost-covered body, and allowed myself to relax slightly.  
  
We were safe.  
  
The Doctor and I might not be in the TARDIS, but we were safe.


	3. Why Not to Change History

As I stared at the now-immobilised creature before me, almost ignorant of the noise behind me as the Doctor spoke with the others, I felt a sharp chill that surpassed even the fear I'd felt when confronting Laurent or James in the past that had nothing to do with the 'freeze-grenade' thing that the Doctor had just used.

Even without having seen one before a few minutes ago, the limited tales the Doctor had told me about the Daleks back on the TARDIS was enough to leave me shaking; this... _thing_... in front of me was one of the creatures that had destroyed the Doctor's entire _species_...

Looking at the Dalek as it stood in front of us, looking slightly like a giant ice sculpture of itself after the 'cryo-charge' the Doctor had used against it, I found myself wishing we could just set it to melt and be done with it; after what it had done to Stella...

I'd faced my own death, but this was the first time I'd seen someone die who'd done nothing wrong; Stella had only been trying to live- she hadn't even been _armed_ -, and the Dalek had just killed her...

"Get that _thing_ off my ship," the ship's commander said, glaring in fury at the Doctor even as his face remained still.

"I'm sorry, I can't," the Doctor said, his voice a low whisper. "The outer airlock door's been damaged- probably in the explosion as we took off. It's jammed. We might be able to-"

"Get it fixed," the commander said, turning to Cuttin' Edge. "Get rid of it."

"Yes, sir," Cuttin' Edge replied.

"Is it dead?" the commander asked, glancing back at the Dalek.

Walking up to the creature- I couldn't think of it as a machine no matter how much I wanted to; it gave off a _sense_ of evil beyond anything I'd felt even from James that no machine could equal-, the Doctor waved a hand in front of the thing's eyestalk, subsequently walking carefully around it before he poked the gunstick.

"No vision, no motive power, weaponry offline," he said at last. "I'd say it's as good as dead."

"Uh... when you say 'as good as'...?" I asked apprehensively.

"Well, there's no way to be sure, of course- Daleks are _very_ resilient-, but given that we caught it off-guard while Cuttin' Edge was shooting at it at close range, it must have diverted enough power to the defensive force field for the cryo-charge to do its stuff, anyway," the Doctor clarified.

"Ah," I said, even as I couldn't stop my eyes drifting nervously towards the creature; having something there that had just tried to kill me wasn't exactly comforting.

"Quick thinking," the commander said.

"Not quick enough," was all that the Doctor said in response. "And anyway, Stella gave me the idea."

As we stared at the creature before us, I wondered if it was just the cold that was making me shiver, or if it was more than that.

I might have consciously know that Laurent must have killed people between my first meeting with him at the Cullens' house and when I saw him again, but actually _seeing_ someone die somehow made this thing scarier...

"I should have acted faster," the Doctor said grimly. "She didn't deserve to die like that. No one does."

"I don't know what the hell you two were doing on that planet," the commander said, glaring at the Doctor, "but everything went wrong the moment we found you."

"Hold on; now you're _blaming_ us?" I said, turning to look incredulously at the man. "This isn't our fault; we were just in the wrong place-!"

"Just keep telling yourself that, _girl_ ," the commander retorted.

"Easy, skip," Cuttin' Edge said, stepping up to halt the apparently-developing argument. "First things first. We need to move Stella."

The commander could only nod briefly at that before he turned his attention back to us.

"Looks like we're stuck with you," he grumbled menacingly at us. "At least until we get that airlock fixed. Until then, keep out of my way."

As he walked off, leaving the Doctor and me to exchange uncertain glances, I wasn't sure what worried me more; being stuck on a ship where we were almost certainly not going to be particularly popular additions to the crew, the fact that we were going away from the TARDIS, or the fact that the Daleks were _here_ despite the Doctor telling me that they were all dead.

* * *

As the Doctor and I sat in the small cabin that was all the crew had 'provided' for us- I wasn't sure if it should be considered a cabin or a cell-, I wasn't sure whether to feel grateful that the two of us were still together or worried about what was going to happen; ever since we landed on that planet things had just become increasingly complicated.  
  
Following the Doctor's example, I had generally tried to stay out of the crew's way- they seemed to be more annoyed with him than me, anyway-, occasionally trying to start conversations with them only to be turned away; the ship's only non-human crew member- a woman called Koral who struck me as being a bit like a cat in appearance- had been almost threatening when telling me to leave her alone, even if she or one of the crew were always somewhere to keep an eye on the Doctor and me (I wondered if they seriously thought we'd try and sabotage the ship or something; did I _look_ like a fighter?).  
  
It wasn't that the group weren't interesting people in their way- Koral's vampirically-sharp claws aside (She'd once torn through a Dalek according to the commander), Scrum was an apparent technical whiz, and Cuttin' Edge was a former marine-, but Commander Bowman's suspicions of me and the Doctor- his latest theory was that we were spies, apparently- wasn't making this trip any easier...  
  
"So... I asked, looking uncertainly at the Doctor, deciding it would be best to settle my confusion about the main issue bothering me right now- unlike the rest of the people on this ship, I was at least sure that the Doctor knew no more about what the Daleks were up to right now than I did-, "if you say that _all_ Daleks were killed in that war with your people..."  
  
"How are we here in a time where they're engaged in a war with the Earth Empire?" the Doctor finished for me, shrugging slightly with a kind of strained nonchalance. "I have a couple of theories, but they're not exactly pleasant; the most likely prospect is that we've slipped through a temporal anomaly of some sort and ended up in a time _before_ the Time War took place, but beyond that..."  
  
"A 'temporal anomaly'?" I repeated in confusion. "What's that?"  
  
"Oh, there are a few different types, really; a hole in the time vortex, a crack in the fabric of the universe... you'd really be amazed how many little flaws the universe can develop over time, even without outside interference," the Doctor said, the expression on his face almost casual at the current topic before another thought seemed to occur to him. "Of course, something like this isn't something I've ever encountered before, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen; Gallifrey's destruction wasn't exactly something I'd anticipated either..."  
  
"Uh... why was that?" I said uncertainly, uncomfortable about bringing up what would almost certainly be a deeply personal issue for the Doctor, but feeling obligated to ask it anyway; something in the way he said that suggested that he was referring to more than just the planet's physical destruction. "I mean... was there more to it than just a... a _planet_ blowing up...?"  
  
"Gallifrey's destruction created... to put it in terms you'd understand, it made a _ripple_ in the space-time continuum," the Doctor explained, looking slightly solemnly at me as he spoke, the weight of the current topic of discussion clearly heavy on his mind even without the knowledge of what was happening in the main hold. "Essentially, the event created a disruption in the time vortex around Gallifrey and its history, making it impossible to navigate or even see the area at any point in the planet's history, and, given my people's already-unique relationship with time- we had no fixed point in history where we were located; it was one of many reasons we'd never _had_ to fight a war before the Time War as one of us would need to guide our enemies to the planet in the first place unless our enemies had the kind of time-travel skills we possessed-, it basically means that us and anything we did was erased from history; I had to spend a lot of time after Gallifrey's destruction making sure that there were other time-active powers set up to deal with the little anomalies that we would have kept track of on our own."  
  
I opened my mouth to ask a question, but the Doctor beat me to it. "And yes, the Daleks got caught in the ripple as well, which is why they were erased from the universe in the process; pretty much the only people who'd really remember them now are people who travelled with me, given that I was... well, I wasn't caught in the blast."  
  
"And... we're here because we... slipped through a hole in the ripple created by that... anomaly you mentioned?" I asked, hoping I'd understood him correctly while making a mental note to avoid asking him for more details about that last comment. I didn't exactly think of myself as stupid, but I was starting to get the impression that even Carlisle would have had trouble understanding the Doctor's explanations sometimes; all this stuff about 'ripples' in time was giving me a headache, and I had a feeling that asking for specifics about why he hadn't been killed in the war would just result in even more of those...  
  
"Basically, yeah; whatever rift we hit sent us back to a point 'before'- as far as we can be said to be at a point in existence before something that changed _all_ existence took place- the ripple was created," the Doctor confirmed, before he smiled slightly. "On the bright side, getting back shouldn't be a problem; I just need to get back to the TARDIS and then we can retrace our steps-"  
  
"And... go to your planet and give them advance warning?" I suggested, only to lower my head at the sudden sharp glare the Doctor gave me. "I mean... if we're in your _past_ -"  
  
" _No_ ," the Doctor said simply, his face suddenly reminding me of Edward's cold resolution before he'd admitted what he was to me as he looked at me.  
  
"But if this is _before_ the war-" I said.  
  
"I _can't_ ," the Doctor said, shaking his head grimly as he looked at me. "I _can't_ change history, Bella; some moments in history _cannot_ be altered, and what happened to Gallifrey is one of them."  
  
"But it's your _world_ -" I said, briefly wondering if I was thinking of the Doctor or myself in this moment- if he could save his world could I persuade him to go back and stop Edward leaving me?-, before I stopped that thought; saving a planet was more important than me saving a long-finished relationship.  
  
"That doesn't matter," the Doctor said, staring at me with a slight gleam in his eyes that I quickly recognised as tears. "I _can't_ go back, Bella; stopping the Time War creates too many variables that _nobody_ could predict. I might save my people, but the _cost_..."  
  
He paused for a moment, an expression of deep pain on his face as he looked away from me, his shoulders shaking from suppressed emotion.  
  
"You mean... the Daleks?" I asked uncertainly, when the silence reached a point where it felt too uncomfortable. "Stop the war from happening, and... the Daleks remain alive?"  
  
"Not just them," the Doctor said, an intense expression on his face as he looked at me. "What the War would have done to my people, Bella... what they would have _become_..."  
  
"What they would have become?" I asked, looking uncertainly at him; I knew that wars weren't exactly pleasant, but the idea of the Doctor being worried about what his people _might_ have become didn't fit the image I was forming of him...  
  
"For a moment..." the Doctor began, pausing as though trying to find the right words for what he was about to say before he finally continued. "When the war began... I saw its future."  
  
I blinked.  
  
"You saw its _future_?" I said, before the implications occurred to me. "Then... you saw them lose-"  
  
"Not all the way to the end of the war," the Doctor interrupted me, shaking his head as he looked out at nothing. "I didn't see the final outcome- and I was trying not to pay too much attention to what I was looking at anyway; it violated countless Laws of Time for me to see anything, but my companion was... very insistent-, but what I _did_ see..."  
  
He shuddered. "Can you imagine looking into your future, and learning that everything you were- everything you stood for, everything you strived to accomplish, everything you've _dedicated_ yourself to defending- would be abandoned by the people you should have been able to trust more than anyone else?"  
  
I shook my head, unsure what I could really say to that; I might have _felt_ that my world had betrayed me when Edward left me like he had, but from what the Doctor was saying he had actually _seen_ what he was describing happen.  
  
"That's what I saw," the Doctor said simply. "I saw my own people transform themselves physically and mentally into monsters because it was the best way to fight the War... I saw them abandon everything they stood for to pre-empt the enemy's pre-emptive strikes... I saw them plant weapons of mass destruction capable of wiping _both_ sides out of existence along with countless other races... entire worlds born and erased almost simultaneously as time was twisted to the point where almost none of the old Laws applied any more..."  
  
He lowered his head for a moment, his voice slightly hoarse at the apparent intensity of the memories he was recalling, before he looked resolutely back at me, clearly determined to ensure that I understood what he was about to say. "If I save them... even if I stop the war before it can start... before they can do any of that... what they became- something that would violate all the laws we as Time Lords are _sworn_ to uphold- wins in the end... I become what I sacrificed everything to stop _them_ becoming... and I _cannot_ let that happen."  
  
Looking at this man that a part of me had already come to consider a friend, I couldn't deny that his sheer intensity in that moment scared me; this man had just confessed that he had killed his _entire species_...  
  
It was genocide on a scale that I could never have imagined before I met him...  
  
And I understood it.  
  
It was like with Edward, when I thought about it; just as reason told me that I _should_ be afraid of the man before me, instinct told me that I didn't _have_ to be. Maybe it was because I still recognised that he'd done it for the right reasons, maybe it was because I couldn't reconcile the idea of the man who'd risked his life to save me with the idea of a man who'd destroy his own planet on a whim...  
  
Whatever the reason, looking at the Doctor now, I knew that he was being nothing less than honest with me; he _couldn't_ save his people.  
  
Even if he stopped the war in this time, he would be betraying everything about them that had been _worth_ saving in the first place.  
  
Right now, in this war, we probably couldn't guarantee that we could even help the people we were travelling with.  
  
All we could do now was try and get back to the TARDIS and get out of here before things became any worse...


	4. Talking with Evil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who haven't read the novel, this takes place after the _Wayfarer_ crew tried to torture their Dalek prisoner, only to fail to get even a sound out of it while the Doctor- and Bella, in this case- were unable to do anything but listen

As I stared at the purplish blob-like creature lying on the ground before me, dimly illuminated by the red glow of what I assumed were the room's emergency lights, I tried to resist the urge to throw up; I hadn't managed to get a good look at it when it was originally extracted from the casing, but what I had seen suggested that it wouldn't have looked much better if it had been unharmed. What looked like a brain was lying on the ground in a manner that reminded me unnerving of a rotted melon, squid-like arms lying both curled around the creature and spread out like dead worms, all kinds of wires and cables hanging out of the Dalek casing behind the creature...

No matter how hard I tried, I was never able to bring myself to completely think of what I saw as having once been a complete organism; it was like...

The best description I can come up with is that a part of me was trying to deny that humanity had reached this point; seeing what vampires and werewolves could do was one thing- I could excuse it to a point as them acting on their new instincts to eliminate a clear threat-, but the idea that humans could reach a point where we would do _this_ to a living creature...

That almost scared me more than the implications of what the crew had said before they'd forced the Doctor and I out of the room.

I'd thought that I'd seen the worst this trip would have to show me when I saw an entire planet being destroyed by what the Doctor and Bowman called the 'Osterhagen Principle' (Some kind of planetary self-destruct that I didn't want to think about; what the Doctor had said about it being invented in my time was more than enough for me), but when I thought about the fact that the Daleks had some other plan going on at the moment, I was starting to feel sick; the sheer _scale_ of what we were dealing with was just... _terrifying_.

God... I didn't even have the comfort of Edward's voice in my head any more- it was as though the shock of meeting the Doctor and learning that aliens existed had driven him out of my head; I hadn't heard anything from him since I tried jumping off that cliff-, and here I was, centuries and light-years away from my home, while the only people who could get me back to the thing I needed to use to go back there spent their time torturing monsters.

The Doctor might have helped the crew disable as much of the Dalek's weapons and defences as he could, but after everything I'd heard about the Daleks from the Doctor, I'd run out of the room even before Koral had 'opened' the casing, and the subsequent screams I'd heard as they did... whatever... to it hadn't left me feeling comfortable.

I'd felt like I should say something to object to their 'plan'- if you could call brutally torturing a living thing a plan; having been the victim myself once when James was hunting me I didn't see any appear in it myself-, but if even the Doctor couldn't make an impression on the crew, I hadn't seen any point in trying anything myself...

In the end, it seemed like everything humanity did just ended with us hurting people; any thoughts about Edward's belief that vampires were the only 'monsters' was relatively easy to push aside in the face of this kind of evidence.

As the Doctor crouched down to examine the creature, a pair of thick-rimmed glasses on his face as he studied it, I wondered who was going to get stuck with the job of clearing that thing away-

"You're still alive," the Doctor suddenly said, breaking off my train of thought as I almost automatically moved to crouch down beside him, staring incredulously at the Dalek as its eye closed.

"Oh, come on," the Doctor said, looking at the creature with an almost critical manner. "You can't fool me."

For a moment, I almost hoped that the Doctor was wrong- the concept of anything looking like that and still being alive seemed almost more wrong than the torture-, but then the creature's single bulbous eye appeared to move slightly to look in his direction, and I knew that he was correct.

"It's me," the Doctor said. "The Oncoming Storm."

The Dalek's eye opened wider, the creature letting out a faint sickening gurgle as it studied him.

"Or maybe you just know me as the Doctor," my friend said.

The creature's only response was another vague mutter whose tone and content were impossible to make out, although a faint gleam in its eye didn't make me feel any better.

"That's the trouble with jumping the time lines," the Doctor said, sitting down on the floor as he looked at the Dalek. "It's difficult to work out where we're up to. Dalek history was confusing enough _before_ the Time War."

" **DOC...TOR**..." the creature said, its voice a low gurgle of the voice it had possessed in its casing, the hair on the back of my neck standing up from the disturbing tone of the voice; any thoughts I'd had about asking what had been so complicated about the Daleks' timeline- and how could anyone have a complicated history from a _time-traveller's_ perspective; surely he'd know most of the details anyway?- were forgotten as I stared in horror and disgust at the sight before me.

"Yes?" the Doctor said after a pause.

" **ONLY... AT... THE END... DO YOU COME...** " the Dalek said, its voice quivering from the apparent effort. " **TO GLOAT**."

"No," the Doctor said, shaking his head. "No, I'm not gloating."

" **THEN... KILL... ME...**."

"I can't," the Doctor said.

Even as a part of me couldn't help but wonder how any part of the Doctor could make him _not_ want to kill the thing before us, the rest of me had to admire my friend's resolve; after everything the Daleks had done to him, making that kind of choice couldn't have been easy...

" **COWARD** ," was all that the Dalek had to say to that.

"There's no need to fight me," the Doctor said.

" **THEN... WHY HAVE YOU COME?** " the Dalek asked.

"I'm not here for that," the Doctor said, shaking his head in an almost pitying manner as he looked at the hideous creature before us. "You're finished. Even you must admit that."

" **DALEKS... NEVER... CAPITULATE...** "

"That's your problem," the Doctor said, sighing as he leant back against the wall, shaking his head in exasperation. "There's no reasoning with you. You've all got one-track minds. I bet if you could fire your gun now you'd exterminate me on the spot."

" **YES**!"

"You're _serious_?" I said, unable to restrain my incredulity as I looked at the mess of flesh and pulp that had once been a living being. "Killing the Doctor won't _get_ you anything; if you just tried _asking_ for some mercy maybe people would give it to you-!"

" **DALEKS DO NOT PLEAD** ," was all that the creature had to say to my effort.

"I know," the Doctor said grimly, holding out an arm to push me back slightly so that the Dalek was focused on him rather than me once more. "But you could have saved yourself a lot of bother if you'd spoken up sooner. Bowman only wanted to talk."

" **BOWMAN...?** "

"The man who was... interrogating you," the Doctor said, clearly trying to avoid actually saying the word 'torture' due to the obvious implications of the word on its own even without the sight before us (I was trying to avoid thinking about that myself; I was uncomfortable enough with Bowman without giving myself a reason to _hate_ him).

" **HE FAILED** ," the Dalek said, a hint of triumph in its voice as it spoke. " **I SHOULD NOT... HAVE ALLOWED MYSELF... TO BE CAPTURED. BUT HIS FAILURE... WAS THE GREATER. NO MATTER WHAT HE DID TO ME... I WOULD NOT TALK**."

"Very impressive, I'm sure," the Doctor said dismissively

" **HUMANS DO NOT UNDERSTAND TORTURE**."

"Oh, I think they do," the Doctor said, looking over apologetically at me as he spoke, as though he wanted to make sure that I knew he wasn't talking about me when he said this. "It's not one of their more endearing traits, but they do know how to inflict pain and suffering, I'll give you that."

" **I EXPECTED NOTHING LESS.** "

"No," the Doctor said, shifting slightly as he spoke, as though his personal discomfort about this topic was extending to physical discomfort as well. "That's wrong. Humans are capable of love and mercy as well. And generosity and charity too. There is no limit to the good they can do- or that they are capable of."

Despite the uncertainty of our situation, the fact that the Doctor was able to say that about humanity even with evidence of how he _could_ be wrong did a lot to make me feel better about my humanity in a way that I hadn't felt since Edward had left me.

"Not like you," the Doctor continued, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at the Dalek. "All you know is pain and suffering."

" **AND THAT IS WHY WE WILL SUCCEED** ," the Dalek said simply. " **WE UNDERSTAND PAIN. HUMANS DO NOT**."

Looking at the twisted Dalek casing that I'd seen earlier, and remembering what the Doctor had told me about the Daleks in the intervening time- their entire race, mutated by a prolonged war, left with no other apparent choice but to literally connect themselves into that 'travel machine' to get around-, I couldn't help but think for a moment that it had a point; anything that could endure something like _that_ definitely had a point about it understanding pain better than us...

" **BUT THE HUMAN RACE WILL BE DEFEATED** ," the Dalek continued. " **ALL HUMANS WILL CEASE TO EXIST. THE DALEKS WILL ERADICTE THEM FROM THE UNIVERSE!** "

"Never," the Doctor said in response, with such cold certainty that I would have believed him even if I didn't know that we were in _his_ past right now.

" **THE DALEKS WILL TRIUMPH! THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN STOP US FROM CHANGING THE PATH OF HISTORY- NOT EVEN YOU, DOC-TOR!** "

"You're delirious," the Doctor responded, scorn clear in his tone.

" **THE DALEKS WILL CONQUER AND DESTROY** ," the Dalek said; despite the fact that it still looked like something that a larger animal had thrown up- or at least partly chewed-, it actually sounded stronger now than it had done earlier. " **WE WILL ELIMINATE ALL HUMAN LIFE FROM ITS VERY BEGINNINGS! WE WILL CONQUER TIME AND SPACE! THE FUTURE WILL BELONG TO THE DALEKS!** "

"Oh yeah?" the Doctor said, leaning over to glare angrily at the Dalek, his patience with the creature lost. "Well, get this: I've seen the future. You lot are going to end up so hungry and mad for power that you bite off more than you can chew. And the whole conquest of time and space thing is going to blow up in your faces."

As he continued speaking, he moved in so close to the lump of flesh in front of him that I wondered how he could even stand the smell of it; somehow I couldn't imagine that thing smelling any better when it was _healthy_ , never mind in its current state. "You're all going to burn and no matter how much you try to come back, or which of you remain, I'm always gonna be there to stop you. So just remember; _there's a storm coming_!"

For a moment, the Dalek seemed to shrink back slightly at the Doctor's words, but any retreat it made was only a brief one as it quickly regained its composure.

" **YOU THREATEN ME WHEN I CANNOT FIGHT BACK** ," the thing said with a perverted satisfaction in its tone. " **YOU HAVE ONLY COME TO WATCH ME DIE. BUT THE DALEKS WILL TRIUMPH! THE DALEKS WILL ALWAYS SURVIVE! WE WILL BE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE!** "

As though that was all that it had the strength to say, the creature groaned, convulsed in a disturbing manner, and then seemed to deflate like a balloon that had lost all its air, the eye closing as it fell into silence at last.

"Oh God..." I whispered, holding a hand up to my mouth to stop myself giving into the urge to throw up. "That was just..."

I wasn't sure what term could effectively describe the sheer disgust I felt at the sight before me; the Dalek's speech about its superiority may not exactly have done much to endear it to me, but that didn't mean I liked to think about what it must have gone through physically before its demise...

"Of course!" the Doctor suddenly yelled, leaping to his feet and smacking his forehead with his hand. " _That's_ what they were doing on Hurala!"

"What?" I asked, looking at him in confusion. "That's what who were doing on Hurala?"

"The Daleks!" the Doctor explained, looking urgently at me. "They couldn't have known that _we_ were there- TARDISes were shielded from Dalek sensors long ago; they'd never find the old girl unless they were actively _looking_ for her, and even then it would take everything one of their ships just to get through the defences and figure out where I was-, so the only reason they were at Hurala was to raid its databanks!"

"Uh... Doctor, you're not making any _sense_ ," I said, hoping that the man I needed to get home hadn't snapped on me. "What could Hurala have that the Daleks would want? I mean... well, it was a _dump_..."

"Oh, it's a dump _now_ , but the Lodestar station on Hurala was 'the gateway to the stars' in its heyday; what it didn't have about the various planets in the area wasn't worth knowing," the Doctor said, his tone momentarily dismissive before his expression became more urgent. "And _one_ of those worlds that would have been in its databanks was Arkheon..."

"Arkheon?" I asked.

"Located near the Crab Nebula, just past the Pleiades and left at the Blue Star Worlds, but that's not important right now," the Doctor answered, waving a hand dismissively as he looked intently at me. "What _is_ important is that it's the home of the Arkheon Threshold, an interesting little temporal rift that gave it a reputation as the 'Planet of Ghosts'-"

"Ghosts?" I repeated uncertainly; it was a bit of a stretch, but I'd once thought that about the existence of vampires and werewolves.

"Well, actually, they were quasi-temporal personality echoes generated by the rift reaching back and forth through time, but the 'Planet of Quasi-Temporal Personality Echoes' lacks the same ring to it, doesn't it?" the Doctor said, shaking his head before he continued. "The important thing is that there's a small chronic schism at the heart of the planet, creating a tear in time and space; if the Daleks manage to find that threshold, their science and engineering, combined with their thirst for power and conquest and the untapped potential of a time/space anomaly could give them a foothold in time that they can use to destroy humanity."

For a moment, I could only stare silently at the man before me, hoping that he'd inform me that he'd just been joking; the concept of being stuck in the future was bad enough, but the idea of us having to deal with a plot to destroy the human race itself...

"Is that... possible?" I asked, looking apprehensively at him after he'd shown no signs of changing his explanation. "I mean, destroying _humanity_... you already said they _didn't_ do that..."

"History can change," the Doctor said grimly. "We have to ensure that it doesn't change the way the Daleks want it to."

I didn't bother arguing with that; after everything I'd seen of them so far, and after the Doctor's last 'conversation' with that Dalek, there was no way that anything they wanted could be a good thing.

I didn't know what I could do to help the Doctor right now, but I _did_ know that I couldn't let the Daleks win...


	5. Captured

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The current chapter is set after the _Wayfarer_ crew arrived on Arkheon; they've been attacked by the devolved inhabitants of what remains of the planet's human civilisation after Arkheon was virtually shattered by the Daleks, forcing them to retreat to the edge of the shattered planet

As I stared over the edge of the massive cliff- even though I knew that it was just the edge of the planet that we'd seen earlier, shattered in half by the explosion of Dalek weapons- before us, the _Wayfarer_ some distance away in the remnants of the Arkheon city we'd landed in and the rest of the crew anxiously looking at the mutants behind us while the Doctor studied his sonic screwdriver, leaving me with nothing more to do than look at what we had come all this way to find, I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing.

We were standing on the edge of what could only be called a massive cliff, and, at the bottom, was the _core_ of a _planet_...

Even when I knew what had been done to the planet to give us this view- the thought that a Dalek weapon could cause this damage just added to the list of reasons why I realised nobody could like them-, that didn't stop Koral's description of it being accurate; it might be terrible, but it was also so... _beautiful_...

I wouldn't go so far as to say that seeing this almost made the possibility that I was going to be torn apart by the mutants behind us worth it- the only other possibly redeeming factor about this whole situation was that those creatures proved that Edward was wrong about a soul being an essential quality of being human; these things behind me might still be alive, but they'd clearly lost _their_ souls after the Daleks decimated their world-, but it was definitely impressive-

"Oh no," the Doctor said, in a straightforward tone that showed only uncertainty rather than the excitement that I'd almost come to expect him to demonstrate when faced with something this new.

"What is it?" Scrum asked. "What's the matter?"

"A thought has just occurred to me," the Doctor said, his tone a bleak one with a hint of anger to it that didn't make me feel particularly comfortable. "Why didn't I think of it before?"

"What?" Scrum repeated.

"The planetary core!" the Doctor answered, indicating the massive golden orb-thing below us before he smacked himself on the forehead. "D'oh!"

"I don't understand..." Koral asked, frowning at the Time Lord (Not that I could blame her; how the Doctor could quote _The Simpsons_ at a time like this completely eluded me).

"I think things are about to get a lot worse," the Doctor sighed.

"Worse?" Cuttin' Edge repeated scornfully. "We're trapped on the edge of the biggest cliff in the universe, facin' an army of zombie ghosts from hell. What could be _worse_?"

For a moment, the Doctor said nothing, but then he looked at me directly, his eyes full of anguish and his expression more chilling than anything I'd ever seen on Edward's face even at his lowest emotional point.

"I'm sorry," he said to me. "I'm so sorry..."

I didn't have time to ask what he meant before I saw what he meant; what seemed to be a vast army of Daleks emerged from the cliff that I'd been looking over just moments before, staring at the Doctor, our temporary new friends, and I, their guns aimed at us and everything about them radiating cold malice.

" **HALT**!" a Dalek said, as the monstrous metal creatures hovered towards us. " **DO NOT MOVE- OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED! YOU ARE NOW PRISONERS OF THE DALEKS!** "

The fact that the native mutants drew back as the Daleks descended towards us was the only encouraging thing about this turn of events, and that was nowhere near enough for me to feel like I could relax; even knowing that he'd been about to kill me, I hadn't felt this cared even when James had confronted me in the ballet studio...

" **RESIST AND YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED** ," the first Dalek said- I thought it was the original speaker, anyway; the Daleks all looked so alike that it was hard to be sure- as it appeared to examine the small group in front of it. " **YOU ARE OUR PRISONERS! YOU WILL OBEY THE DALEKS!** "

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bowman apparently raise his weapon and prepare to open fire on the approaching monsters, before the Doctor shook his head.

"Leave it," the Time Lord said grimly. "Try anything stupid and you'll be exterminated on the spot."

"Then what do we do?" Cuttin' Edge asked, anger and fear in his tone.

"Surrender," the Doctor said simply, raising his hands as he looked at the rest of the crew.

I almost couldn't believe it; things had reached a point where the Doctor was suggesting to give up rather than even _try_ and fight?

I'd known that the Daleks were bad, but to make a man strong enough to survive the destruction of his entire species just _give up_ this quickly...

" **ARE YOU THE LEADER OF THIS GROUP?** " a Dalek asked, focusing its gaze on the Doctor.

"No, he isn't," Bowman said resolutely, stepping forward to glare at the monsters in front of us. "I am."

" **DISCARD YOUR WEAPONS** ," the Dalek said.

I wasn't sure if I should be proud or terrified when none of my new acquaintances obeyed that 'order'; they might be brutal, but they were definitely courageous...

" **IMMEDIATELY**!" the Dalek yelled again. " **OBEY!** "

"Do it," Bowman said after a brief pause.

Even as he, Cuttin' Edge and Scrum dropped their weapons, he continued to glare at the Daleks; evidently this 'capitulation' was just to ensure that he stayed alive now so that he could do more damage later rather any indication that he'd actually given up.

"I'm not carrying any weapons," the Doctor said, indicating me and Koral with a wave of his arms. "And neither are they."

As a Dalek moved forward to face us, the sucker arm extended, I couldn't help but flinch slightly; that arm might _look_ like something you'd use to clean your toilet, but when it was attached to something capable of destroying the race that created the _TARDIS_...

" **NO ENERGY OR PROJECTILE WEAPONS DETECTED** ," the Dalek said, lowering its arm as it turned away from us. I briefly heard the Doctor mutter something, but a Dalek cut him off with a loud yell for silence before it turned to another Dalek and ordered it to destroy the _Wayfarer_ crew's weapons.

As I watched the guns and whatever fragile hope for survival they might have offered being destroyed in front of me, I briefly registered a slight flicker of movement in the corner of my eye, but when I glanced over the only thing I saw was Koral slightly relaxing as Bowman stood beside her and Scrum looking like he was about to be sick.

With nothing else for me to do right now, my only option was to move closer to the Doctor, trying not to make my actions obvious as I tentatively reached out to take his hand in mine; I might feel more comfortable with him close to me right now, but I didn't want to draw attention to him.

" **WALK THIS WAY** ," the Dalek said, turning to the cliff edge.

"I couldn't walk that way if I tried..." the Doctor began, only to be stopped when I tightened my grip on his hand, prompting him to glance over at me and fall silent.

I hated how weak I felt in this whole mess, but I couldn't help it; this time, there weren't any vampires coming to rescue me...

God, as far as the Cyllens were concerned, even if they _were_ somehow still alive in this time I'd been dead for centuries; why would anyone even _bother_ to look for me?

" **WALK IN FRONT OF ME** ," a Dalek voice said, breaking my train of thought as I glanced around in time to see it move into position behind our small group. " **MOVE! DISOBEDIENCE WILL RESULT IN INSTANT EXTERMINATION!** "

I almost wished that Emmett was here at that moment just to lighten the mood; he'd probably have made some black joke about how _everything_ resulted in instant extermination around here...

"Come on," the Doctor said, a jaunty tone to his voice that a part of me couldn't quite believe he was even capable of faking in this nightmare as he walked forward. As he passed Scrum, he whispered something to the dirtier man that I didn't quite catch, although it was apparently enough to prompt the man in question to stick with the Doctor as we approached the edge of the abyss.

"What are they gonna do?" Cuttin' Edge asked, looking sceptically at the sight in front of us. "Throw us off?"

Just as he had said that, there was a sudden whine of machinery as a large, flat metal surface rose up from inside the abyss. Apart from a small control podium in one corner with two Daleks standing near it, the platform was relatively basic, the only signs of life on it being the two Daleks. As I watched, one of them adjusted something with the sucker arm and the platform moved up to the edge of the cliff, allowing us to walk uncomfortably on to it.

"Looks like we were expected," Bowman remarked grimly.

"Yeah..." the Doctor said, swallowing slightly as he took in the sight in front of him before he shot a thoughtful glance at Bowman. "Gravity, atmosphere, the lot. They're giving us the VIP treatment... Why is that?"

After that, there was only silence as the platform descended down the side of the planet, the cliff that comprised the remnants of the shattered planet blocking out half our view of the universe around us.

"Y'know, that really is an incredible view," he said, smiling slightly as he took in the stars in front of us. "Absolutely _amazing_. Pity you lot had to come and spoil it."

His comment was met with nothing but silence from everyone around us; the Daleks didn't care and the crew didn't strike me as being in a particularly conversational mood.

"So what's it all for, then?" the Doctor asked; I could only hope that he said this more out of a desire to say something rather than because he actually expected the Daleks to give him an answer. "Let me guess, you're gonna replace the molten core with a drive system, start flying the planet around the galaxy? See the sights?"

" **SILENCE**!" the Dalek responded.

"I'm only trying to make conversation," the Doctor said; I couldn't believe that anyone could actually sound _hurt_ that a Dalek wouldn't want to take to them...

Any concerns I might have had about the Doctor's mental state judging by his last response were cut short when I found our platform descending into a vast cavern in what remained of the fractured globe. As our platform moved through this new cave- and how _anything_ could have made this I almost didn't want to know; I already knew that the Daleks were scarily advanced, I didn't want to think about the manpower something like this would have needed-, I tried not to think too much about the vast array of walkways and landing areas below us, filled with so many Daleks I'd lost count mere moments after trying to work out the numbers we were dealing with...

"Hell and damnation..." Cuttin' Edge breathed. "Now we're really in the-"

"Should have seen this coming," the Doctor muttered grimly. "I really should."

"What do you mean?" Cuttin' Edge asked.

"They've been here all the time," the Doctor said, a rueful expression on his face as he indicated the massive cavern around us. "Look at this place! It must have taken years to build and develop a base like this. We thought the Daleks were searching for Arkheon. Turns out they found it ages ago and moved in."

"I think it's worse than that," Bowman said solemnly.

"Will you guys stop saying that?" Cuttin' Edge yelled over at his ship's captain. " 'It's worse than that' and 'It's worse than I thought'! Hell! How much _worse_ is this gonna get?"

"A lot," Bowman said in response. "I think I know what this place is."

I was rapidly approaching the point where I didn't _want_ to know any more about what we were dealing with, but knew at the same time that I didn't have much of a choice but to keep listening; anything we could find out right now could only help us in the long run.

I heard rumours," Bowman continued. "The Daleks had a top-secret base where they took all their high-level prisoners for interrogation and experimentation."

"No _way_ ," Cuttin' Edge said. "Interrogation? _Experimentation_? Are you serious?"

"Daleks love prisoners," the Doctor noted grimly, looking over at me with obvious regret on his face. "Gives them such a sense of power. They love nothing more than lording it over the inferior species. Humiliation, torment, slavery; that's their thing."

"You ain't makin' it sound any better, dude," Cuttin' Edge remarked with a grim shake of his head.

"Look, about that 'top-secret interrogation base' thing..." I began, looking awkwardly at Bowman; this was a long shot, but it was all I could come up with at the moment. "Is there anything else you can remember about it?"

"Why?" Bowman asked, his tone and expression almost equally bleak as he stared at me.

"Anything could be useful," the Doctor added, smiling supportively at me as he spoke; even if my idea wouldn't amount to anything, the fact that I'd tried was apparently enough for him.

"Don't count on it," Bowman said, dispelling any hope I might have nurtured about making the idea work. "They used to call it 'the Black Hole'- as in nothing ever came out again. No one- and I mean _no one_ \- ever escaped from this place. It's a one-way ticket."

" **CEASE TALKING!** " a Dalek yelled, its gun twitching as it advanced towards us. " **PRISONERS WILL BE SILENT.** "

Not even the most unruly prisoner would have been able to deny that order. The entire platform remained in silence after that last order as we advanced ever further into the Dalek prison, the other Daleks around us only briefly taking everyone in before we finally landed in a location that put me in mind of a wide reception area, two Daleks already advancing towards us.

" **STEP OFF THE LANDING PLATFORM** ," one of the new Daleks said.

It wasn't like we had much in the way of alternatives available to us. In resignation, we walked off the pad, our only handicap being when Cuttin' Edge stumbled after a Dalek pushed him for apparently moving too slowly.

" **MOVE!** " the Dalek yelled at him. " **FASTER! OBEY THE DALEKS!** "

"Don't push me, you metal creep," Cuttin' Edge retorted, glaring back at the Dalek.

" **BE SILENT!** " the Dalek retorted.

"Don't wave that eyestalk in my face, creep," Cuttin' Edge countered, glaring back at the Dalek with a cold intensity that I had to admire even if I was still terrified for his life. "I can get good money for it back home."

" **BE SILENT OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!** "

"All right, cool it," Bowman said, before the other man could say anything to get himself in even more trouble. "That's enough, Cuttin' Edge. Let's not rile them. It's too easy."

"Whatever you say, skip," Cuttin' Edge said, turning away from the Dalek even as the creature's eyestalk moved to take him in.

" **YOU WILL OBEY THE DALEKS. FROM NOW ON YOU WILL TAKE ORDERS ONLY FROM DALEKS. THIS HUMAN IS NO LONGER YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER.** "

"He was never my commanding officer," Cuttin' Edge said, shrugging dismissively. "He's just a guy I kinda like."

I wasn't sure if Cuttin' Edge's attitude was something to be admired or if I should start worrying about his mental state; anyone who was willing to contradict a Dalek in a place like this was either ridiculously brave or _unbelievably_ stupid...

" **OBEY THE DALEKS! YOU WILL OBEY!** "

"Just remember," Cuttin' Edge said simply, "that eyestalk's mine."

" **BE SILENT!** " the Dalek yelled, its sucker arm striking Cuttin' Edge's chest in an almost punch-like manoeuvre as it spoke. It would have almost been laughable if the impact hadn't sent Cuttin' Edge falling to the ground in obvious pain, Scrum hurrying over to help his friend up as the Daleks moved to examine the rest of us.

" **THE NEXT PERSON TO SPEAK WITHOUT PERMISSION WILL BE EXTERMINATED** ," the Dalek said with its usual blank tone that made what would have been a threat in any other species a simple statement of fact. " **NOW REMOVE YOUR OUTER GARMENTS.** "

As we shrugged off our winter jackets, I noticed Koral paying an unusual amount of attention to the Doctor as he kept to the back of our assembled group, but I didn't ask her about it; not only did I not want to draw any more attention to the Doctor than I had to, but I wasn't entirely comfortable at the idea of asking someone with claws that made even Jake in wolf form look like he'd had a manicure not to do something.

" **PRISONERS WILL BE SCANNED AND CATEGORISED** ," the Dalek said. " **STAND APART! MOVE!** "

As we separated out into a line, I tried not to show any fear I might have felt- if I could walk into James's trap without falling into a panic attack, I could definitely do _this_ \- as a Dalek scanned Scrum at the end of the line.

" **SPECIES- HUMAN. MALE. PHYSICAL CAPACITY- LEVEL FIVE POINT NINE. MARGINAL USE.** "  
  
"Marginal?" Scrum yelled, only for the Dalek to move on to scan Cuttin' Edge without showing any sign that it had heard him.  
  
" **SPECIES- HUMAN. MALE. PHYSICAL CAPACITY- LEVEL SEVEN POINT FIVE. SUITABLE. YOU WILL BE TAKEN TO THE MINE TO WORK FOR THE DALEKS.** "  
  
As the creature turned to study me, I couldn't help but wince; I thought that I was reasonably physically fit, but the possibility that I could just be... _discarded_ because I didn't meet the standards of a race who _already_ had a low opinion of anything that wasn't them...  
  
" **SPECIES- HUMAN. FEMALE** ," the Dalek said, clearly unaware of my own apprehension. " **PHYSICAL CAPACITY- LEVEL SIX POINT THREE. SUITABLE. YOU WILL BE TAKEN TO THE MINE TO WORK FOR THE DALEKS.** "  
  
It was one of those moments where I wasn't sure if I should be relieved or scared about the fact that I was still alive; I might not want to die, but after everything I'd heard about the Daleks, any reason they wanted people alive couldn't be good for us...  
  
" **SPECIES- UNKNOWN** ," a Dalek said as it scanned Koral. " **FEMALE. PHYSICAL CAPACITY- LEVEL NINE POINT FOUR. SUITABLE. YOU WILL BE TAKEN TO THE MINE TO WORK FOR THE DALEKS.** "  
  
As Koral glanced over at Bowman at the news, I couldn't help but feel slightly touched at the sight of him squeezing her hand in response; it was a minor thing, but after spending so long on the _Wayfarer_ seeing him as a soldier first, it was... nice... to see him showing some humanity...  
  
" **SPECIES. HUMAN. MALE. PHYSICAL CAPACITY- LEVEL SEVEN POINT SIX** ," a Dalek said as it scanned Bowman, before it suddenly seemed to become more interested in him. " **WAIT! EXTEND YOUR ARM!** "  
  
After a moment's hesitation, Bowman held out his left arm, the Daleks focusing their attention on a strange scar on the arm that I hadn't seen before.  
  
" **EVIDENCE OF SUBCUTANEOUS TRANSMITTER REMOVAL!** " the first Dalek said.  
  
" **X-RAY CONFIRMS TRANSMITTER HAS BEEN REMOVED!** " another Dalek asked (I couldn't believe anyone could be so casual about peoples' safety as to install _X-Rays_ in the Daleks; weren't those meant to be dangerous if they were used regularly?)  
  
"Guess it's your lucky day," Bowman said, lowering his arm as Scrum and Cuttin' Edge exchanged anxious whispers with each other; the only encouraging thing about the whispers was that it at least suggested that I wasn't the only one confused about what was happening.  
  
" **STEP FORWRD**!" the Dalek said. " **KNEEL!** "  
  
"I'm not kneeling for you," was all that Bowman had to say in response.  
  
Lowering its sucker arm, the nearest Dalek struck Bowman in the leg, knocking him to the ground. Koral moved towards him, but I grabbed her arm before she could get too close; she might scare me, but I didn't want the person who was potentially our best fighter to risk her life for something that almost certainly wouldn't have worked.  
  
" **INITIATE BRAIN SCAN!** " the Dalek proclaimed, as it and another Dalek extended their sucker-arms to almost cover Bowman's head. For a moment I wondered if they were just going to use the suckers to crush his head slowly, but the piercing whine that suddenly came from the suckers and the saliva that began to fleck from Bowman's gasping lips made it clear that the Daleks were doing this for more than the sake of it.  
  
"Don't be stupid!" I yelled at Koral when I saw her begin to move towards Bowman, grabbing her arm to hold her back while Cuttin' Edge did the same to Scrum (Although I was certain I wouldn't have been able to do anything to halt Koral if the Doctor hadn't come over to help me).  
  
Before I could worry about how long the Doctor and I could stop Koral doing anything stupid, the suction cups retracted and Bowman fell to the ground, red weals on his face as he trembled violently but apparently still alive nevertheless.  
  
" **ALERT**!" a Dalek said in a voice that sounded surprisingly excited for a supposedly emotionless creature. " **INFORM COMMAND! PRISONER IDENTIFIED AS SPACE MAJOR JON BOWMAN!** "  
  
" **WE OBEY!** "  
  
"Space Major?" I repeated, looking at the man in front of me in surprise; the idea that he'd been an actual _officer_ didn't fit the 'renegade' impression he'd created while I'd been on his ship. " _Space Major_?"  
  
"Since when?" Scrum asked (I was able to take some comfort in the fact that they hadn't known about this particular twist either).  
  
"Since the very beginning," the Doctor said (I momentarily wondered if I should feel annoyed about that, but decided it wasn't worth it; given his age, it was only natural that the Doctor would be able to tell things like that about people without having to be told it directly). "Remember when Auros was destroyed? Bowman knew about the Osterhagen Principle. Only senior members of the Earth military would have access to that kind of information. No wonder the Daleks are so excited... it can't be often they catch someone as important as this."  
  
"Important?" Cuttin' Edge asked, frowning as he looked at Bowman. "He ain't important. Well, not that kinda important."  
  
"The Daleks would appear to disagree," the Doctor said grimly. I was about to ask him for more information about what exactly Bowman could give the Daleks in this situation, but the appearance of a new Dalek- judging by the manner in which the other Daleks suddenly began to back off as it approached, I was fairly sure it was one of the leaders- approaching Bowman stopped that before it started.  
  
" **STAND**!" the new Dalek said." **STAND IMMEDIATELY!** "  
  
"Leave him alone!" Koral practically spat at the Dalek as she helped the shaking Bowman to his feet (I tried not to think too much about the state he was in; his cloudy eyes alone had me wondering if he could even _see_ right now). "Do not touch him or I will rip out your guts!"  
  
" **RELEASE THE PRISONER**!" the Dalek said, clearly not remotely bothered about Koral's threat. " **HE IS TO BE TAKEN FOR FULL BRAIN EXCORIATION**."  
  
"You will have to kill me first!" Koral yelled, charging towards the Dalek only to be halted by some of the other Daleks in the area; much to my surprise, these Daleks had claws rather than suckers on the end of their non-gun arms, which they used to take hold of Koral's arms to halt her attempted attack.  
  
" **YOU WILL OBEY THE DALEKS** ," was all that the leader had to say about the situation.  
  
"Why don't you just exterminate me?" Koral yelled.  
  
" **IT IS NOT NECESSARY. YOU ARE REQUIRED FOR WORK IN THE MINES. BUT YOU HAVE DISOBEYED THE DALEKS. ONE OF YOUR PARTY WILL BE PUNISHED.** "  
  
"No..." Bowman said, groggily looking up from his position on the ground near Koral and I.  
  
" **THE WEAKEST MEMBER WILL DIE** ," the Dalek said.  
  
I was ashamed that my first reaction was relief when I realised that Scrum had been identified as the weakest member rather than me, even if my reaction quickly shifted to horror when Cuttin' Edge's scream of defiance was cut short as a Dalek shot him.  
  
"I can't feel my legs!" he screamed, his body now lying on the floor in a heap; he was so close to me, but with armed Daleks practically looking for a chance to kill something I _couldn't_ move...  
  
" **YOU HAVE SUFFERED TEMPORARY NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE** ," the Dalek that had fired coldly informed Cuttin' Edge. " **MOBILITY WILL RETURN IN DUE COURSE.** "  
  
As Cuttin' Edge cried on the ground, I could do nothing but turn to look at the Doctor, his grim expression failing to provide the hope that I was looking for as a Dalek weapon fired at something behind me... something that fell to the ground when the beams stopped... something that had been somebody I _knew_...


	6. The Storm Contained

"There was no need for that," the Doctor said quietly, his gaze having shifted in the direction where I knew the body that had been Scrum only moments ago was now lying. "He wouldn't have harmed anyone."

" **HE WAS OF NO USE TO US** ," a Dalek said, with the same callousness that I'd experienced when dealing with James and Laurent; it was as though we were just something to be pushed aside rather than sentient beings who actually _mattered_...

"You'll pay for this," Cuttin' Edge muttered, gritting his teeth against the pain in his legs as he tried to sit up. "I'll make you pay."

" **SILENCE** ," the Dalek said. " **YOU WILL BE TAKEN TO THE MINES AND MADE TO SERVE THE DALEKS.** "

"No!" Cuttin' Edge yelled. "Never! Kill me now, you metal b-!"

"Cuttin' Edge!" Bowman yelled. "Leave it. Just... stay alive as long as you can."

"How?" Cuttin' Edge yelled, practically sobbing as he looked over at Bowman (I wondered if this was how everyone had felt about my reaction after Edward left; knowing that someone was dealing with that kind of pain when you could do _nothing_ to help them was definitely _not_ comfortable...).

"Kid..." Bowman said, nodding grimly at his crewman. "Just do your best."

" **YOU WILL BE TAKEN FOR DEEP-LEVEL INTERROGATION** ," the Dalek continued, with a cold nonchalance about its attitude that almost made me sicker than when I'd been face-to-face with James; at least James actually looked like he'd _enjoy_ what he was going to do to be, but the Dalek was just talking about killing Bowman because it _could_. " **THE PROCESS INVOLVES BRAIN EXCORIATION AND SURGERY. YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE THIS PROCESS.** "

"Yeah, right," Bowman said, looking directly back at the Dalek. "Tell me something I don't know."

" **YOU WILL OBEY THE DALEKS!** "

"That a fact?" Bowman countered with a raised eyebrow. "What if I choose not to? What if I say you can talk your gun-stick and-?"

" **SILENCE!** "

"Why?" Bowman asked, his arms spread out as he looked nonchalantly back at the being that would be perfectly willing to kill him just for existing. "What are you going to do to me, Dalek? I'm too valuable for you to exterminate. You need me alive for interrogation, remember? To help you wipe out mankind or something."

" **YOU WILL BE MADE TO COPERATE** ," the Dalek said, its arms twitching and lights flashing as it quivered in a manner that I could almost interpret as annoyance if it wasn't for the fact that what the Doctor had told me about them left me doubting whether this thing could even _get_ mad in the first place. " **IF NECESSARY YOU WILL BE PERMANENTLY DISABLED AND TAKEN TO THE INTERROGATION CHAMBER BY FORCE.** "

"Forget it," Bowman said, straightening up as he looked back at the Dalek. "I'll walk. Which way is this interrogation chamber, anyway?"

Even as Koral struggled to help him despite the Daleks that were currently holding her back, I personally found myself admiring Bowman's cool dignity; even face-to-face with the Daleks, it wasn't enough to make him lose his focus or sacrifice whatever control he had over the situation...

"I'll be OK," was all that he said as he looked over at Koral.

"NO!" Koral screamed, turning to face the Doctor almost before I realised what she was up to "Please... you can't let them take him away."

"I can't stop them, Koral," the Doctor said simply (I had to agree with him there; anything he did to take attention off Bowman would just get us in _more_ trouble when the Daleks realised just who they'd captured...).

"You can!" Koral insisted. "I _know_ you can!"

"I can't," the Doctor replied, the intensity of his response telling me more about the situation than any spoken words could have.

_Koral_ knew _about the Doctor_...

How she'd found out what she apparently knew I didn't know- maybe he'd let something slip when he was talking to her while we were separated on the _Wayfarer_ at some point (I'd tried to stick with him, but I had to go to the bathroom _sometimes_ )-, but that didn't change the fact that she was doing something so unbelievably selfish that I couldn't believe it.

"You know the future," Koral said, staring earnestly at the Doctor even as I had to fight to stop myself having a panic attack at what she was actually asking him to do. "You've _seen_ it. You know what happens. You know _more_ than him."

" _NO_!" I yelled, hissing in frustration as I walked over to glare at her; even if I was partly motivated by a desire not to lose the only person who could get me home, I also knew that the Daleks being allowed _any_ kind of access to the Doctor was a terrible thing even to think about. "Whatever you're thinking, _don't_ ; you don't understand-!"

"I understand that they are going to take him and cut out his brain!" Koral continued, still glaring at the Doctor. "And you're just standing there, letting them do it! And he doesn't know _anything_. Not compared with you!"

"It doesn't work like that," the Doctor said as he stepped towards Koral, ignoring the Daleks that had turned to look towards us; even as the thought of their weapons being aimed in my direction scared me, a part of me was relieved to have an excuse not to say anything that might have ended up incriminating the Doctor's true identity anyway. "I can't let that happen."

As the Doctor turned away, Koral could only stare at the Doctor as Bowman shook his head, leaving me to stare around at the rest of the crew.

I hated to sound selfish, but I wished that the Daleks would just take Bowman away and leave things at that; we were already in trouble without the Daleks learning just _who_ they were holding prisoner...

" **TAKE JON BOWMAN TO THE INTERROGATION CHAMBER** ," the Dalek said, as they began to take Bowman away.

"Wait," the Doctor suddenly said, the Dalek that appeared to be the commander of the others present turning to look at the Doctor before I could do anything to stop him.

"Can I have a private word?" the Doctor continued, as though nothing out of the ordinary was about to happen.

" **SPEAK.** "

"What are you _doing_?" I hissed at him out of the corner of my mouth, my fear of the Daleks forgotten in the face of my concern for the Doctor.

"Don't worry; I know what I'm doing," he replied in a low voice, shooting me a brief, comforting look that I still wished presented more confidence than it did before he turned his attention back to the Dalek. "Well, this is probably going to be a bit embarrassing..."

" **EXPLAIN!** "  
  
"Look," the Doctor said, staring back at the monstrous alien, "I really hate it when people say this sort of thing, but... _Do you know who I am_?"  
  
For a moment, the Dalek could only stare at him as he stepped towards it- I wasn't sure _what_ I wanted to happen at this point; I couldn't think of any response the Dalek could make that wouldn't just result in the Doctor being killed-, but then he leaned forward to whisper something at the grille pattern around what looked like the Dalek equivalent of a neck, and the creature suddenly jolted backwards, its head lamps flashing as it looked at him.  
  
" **ALERT! ALERT**!" the Dalek yelled, with a suddenly-renewed sense of energy." **SCAN THIS PRISONER!** "  
  
"Come on," the Doctor said, hands held wide and a smile on his face. "You know you want to."  
  
Even as he spoke, the Daleks surrounding him had extended their sucker arms towards him, only to subsequently become apparently agitated by their discovery as they moved around him.  
  
" **EMERGENCY**!" the first Dalek yelled. " **EMERGENCY! IT IS THE DOC-TOR!** "  
  
"It's the twin hearts, isn't it?" the Doctor said, as though he hadn't just revealed his identity to a race that would like nothing more than to kill him. "They're such a giveaway."  
  
" **IT IS THE DOC-TOR! IT IS THE DOC-TOR!** "  
  
"Please," the Doctor said, smiling in an almost casual manner as he looked around at the race that had destroyed his own as though he was a particularly confident celebrity dealing with a mass of fans, "no autographs."  
  
" **DO NOT MOVE**!" the Command Dalek yelled, its gun now aiming at the Doctor. " **DO NOT MOVE! YOU ARE THE DOC-TOR! YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF THE DALEKS. YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!** "  
  
"Oh, come off it," the Doctor said, apparently ignorant of the slight agitation I was starting to notice spreading through the rest of the canyon; it was as though the revelation of just who was among the recent prisoners had sparked off some kind of automatic reaction that had stirred all the surrounding Daleks into a slight... well, I wanted to call it 'panic'.  
  
"Not before you've had a chance to interrogate me, surely?" the Doctor continued, smiling at the Command Dalek casually. "At least a quick question-and-answer session... No?"  
  
"Dude," Cuttin' Edge said, looking over at the Doctor with a new edge of admiration in his eyes, "you got some _serious_ presence. What the hell did you say to them?"  
  
"Just enough to make Space Major Jon Bowman look like third prize in the Chirstmas raffle," the Doctor clarified, looking apologetically over at Bowman. "Sorry about that; I'm afraid they're not going to be all that interested in you now. Try not to feel too downhearted."  
  
"I always knew there was something you weren't telling us," Bowman commented; I thought briefly about being angry at his apparent lack of concern for the fact that the Daleks' greatest enemy had just handed himself over to save him, but this still definitely wasn't the time to draw attention to myself. "Turns out you're Dalek Enemy Number One. Congratulations."  
  
"I know," the Doctor nodded briefly. "Funny how things turn out, isn't it?"  
  
" **SILENCE**!" the Dalek yelled. " **DO NOT SPEAK! YOU ARE A PRISONER OF THE DALEKS! YOU WILL BE TAKEN FOR INTERROGATION! AND THEN YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED! EXTERMINATED!** "  
  
"You always make me feel so welcome," the Doctor said nonchalantly.  
  
In response, the Dalek extended its sucker arm to 'punch' the Doctor in the stomach, before it subsequently turned to face Bowman.  
  
" **YOU WILL BE TAKEN TO AWAIT YOUR INTERROGATION** ," the Dalek said (I almost felt like swearing at that particular revelation; even after what the Doctor had done, they were _still_ going to take Bowman...). " **THE OTHER MEMEBRS OF YOUR CREW WILL BE TAKEN TO WORK IN THE CORE MINES**."  
  
I barely even registered Koral's screams to Bowman as the clawed Daleks began to take us down a nearby corridor towards what I could only assume were the previously-mentioned mines, all I could do was keep my eyes fixed on the Doctor, praying that he'd say or do something to give me some faith that he _did_ have a plan, that I wasn't going to die here centuries and light-years away from home because he'd tried something to save someone else that hadn't even worked...  
  
Then the doors closed in front of me, and my fear turned to anger as I turned to glare at Koral.  
  
"What the _hell_ was that?" I asked, waving a hand at the rapidly-retreating door behind us (The Daleks didn't appear to care about any argument we might have so long as we kept walking).  
  
"I could not let him die-!" Koral said.  
  
"And that means it's OK to give them the _Doctor_?" I yelled angrily. "It didn't even _help_ anything; the Doctor's knowledge isn't the _same_ as Bowman's-"  
  
"He is from the _future_ -!" Koral began.  
  
"Which means he knows what _battles_ are coming; Bowman probably knows some codes or something that the Doctor _doesn't_ have, the Daleks aren't just going to ignore _that_!" I protested, brief recollections of the basic military information I'd picked up from my conversations with Jasper so long ago flying through my mind as I glared at the cat-like woman. "You selfish _bitch_ -!"  
  
"You protest simply because you wish the Doctor's safety; how is that different-?" Koral protested.  
  
"Because I wouldn't have handed someone _else_ over to them just because _I_ want him to be safe!" I yelled back at her. "We can't _do_ that; if we're just going to sell each other out we're just doing the Daleks' work _for_ them-!"  
  
" **SILENCE**!" the Dalek nearest me said, ramming its sucker arm into my back, sending me staggering for a moment before I regained my balance.  
  
Even as I made a mental note not to continue talking- evidently we'd pushed her Dalek captors too far; I didn't want to give them an _excuse_ to kill us-, I couldn't bring myself to fully understand Koral's attitude; she _knew_ how dangerous the Doctor's knowledge could be, and she had _still_ been willing to hand him over to the Daleks like that.  
  
I just couldn't believe that she'd been so goddamn _selfish_ ; _nothing_ else had mattered more to her than keeping Bowman alive for _her_ sake-!  
  
Even knowing the danger we were in right now as the Daleks forced us towards wherever we were going, I almost couldn't stop myself suddenly feeling the urge to throw up as I realised something.  
  
Everything I'd just accused Koral of being- selfish, obsessed, so focused on saving one person that she didn't care who else died- could have described _me_.  
  
Back when I'd been with Edward, I'd been willing to let _other_ people get hurt if it meant that I was able to stay with him...  
  
Admittedly, I liked to think that I wouldn't have actually deliberately handed anyone over to be killed in Edward's place on _purpose_ , but was letting someone else die to save the person I loved- as I was increasingly sure Koral saw Bowman that way- really any different from letting everyone I knew assume that _I_ was dead if Edward had turned me?  
  
Just because he had meant more to _me_ than anyone else didn't mean that Edward was the only person who mattered _at all_ ; focusing on him like that...  
  
It wasn't _right_.  
  
No matter how much I'd loved Edward... no matter how much I'd wanted to be with him...  
  
The fact that the Doctor's knowledge of the Daleks' was so much more potentially dangerous than anything Bowman might know might have made the situation worse than it would have been if I'd faked my death to be with Edward, but in the end, no matter what way I looked at it, one essential detail remained the same; both Koral and I had been willing to cause _other_ people pain so that we wouldn't have to feel it ourselves (With the obvious exception of the pain I'd probably feel when I first transformed, anyway).  
  
Admittedly, there _was_ a difference- the pain I would have caused others if I'd faked my death to be with Edward or something like that would have been purely emotional, while Koral's actions would almost certainly result in people _dying_ if the Daleks managed to make the Doctor talk-, but it didn't change the facts; causing others pain so that we wouldn't feel it ourselves...  
  
It was _wrong_.  
  
God, it was practically the _reason_ the Cullens didn't drink human blood- Esme in particular didn't want to make others experience what she'd been through by losing their children-, and I'd been willing to cause people _more_ pain just to be with Edward?  
  
Lying to Charlie to protect him from James had been all right because I'd known I would be coming back if everything worked out, and even what I was doing now was fine- since the TARDIS was a time machine I could be back before anyone really knew I was gone-, but abandoning them all just to be with Edward...  
  
It was hard for me to admit it, but I had to recognise the implications of my recent epiphany; letting other people suffer so that I could get what _I_ wanted wasn't right.  
  
 _Oh my God_... I thought to myself, my legs moving almost on automatic as my brain turned over its latest revelation in shock. _What was I_ thinking...?  
  
It didn't make the pain I still felt at the thought that Edward had left me go away, but it helped me accept something that I should have recognised long before now; the person I was while I'd been with him had suffered from _serious_ problems-  
  
" **HALT!** " a Dalek yelled, bringing Koral, Cuttin' Edge and I to a stop, even as I made a mental note to think more about that particular revelation when I had the time.  
  
 _And there_ will _be time_ , I privately resolved to myself.  
  
I didn't survive James and Laurent's attempts to kill me, or travel all the way to a planet ruled by the most evil beings in the universe in what apparently wasn't even the 'right' version of reality (And how strange had my life become where I could accept a thought like that without worrying that I was going crazy?), just to die before I had time to think about who I was becoming and who I'd been before I'd met the Doctor...


	7. The Mines of Arkheon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place a few hours after the last chapter; I'll explain what happened immediately after Bella, Cuttin' Edge and Koral arrived in the mines quickly enough, but I felt that this was the better way to explore Bella's thoughts about what's happening to her

If I'd ever harboured even a passing thought about a career in mining, the last few hours had quickly suppressed it; even the knowledge that the Daleks were pushing us this because of some sadistic sense of pleasure- as much as anything that was meant to have abandoned all emotion could feel pleasure, anyway- didn't change the fact that the work was exhausting and repetitive even when you started out liking it, and that _definitely_ wasn't the case here.

The conditions we were working in didn't exactly help matters that much either, of course. Not only did we have to work in a boiling hot cavern that was surrounded by black granite and lava- I might have actually appreciated the visual spectacle if it wasn't for the fact that we were being forced to work in it-, but we were using simple pickaxes to hack away at rock that was probably at least as hard as the Cullens' skin, for no other reason than that the Daleks wanted us to do this...

There was no _way_ we could do this kind of work faster than anything the Daleks could construct to do the same job for themselves, and they were still making us work just to rub their status as the 'supreme beings' in our faces.

Remembering what the Doctor had told me about their philosophy in the past, I had to restrain my 'inner Emmett'- possibly inspired by the Doctor's confidence- from making some kind of joke about how they could consider themselves the supreme beings when they didn't have hands and were so wide fitting through some areas would practically impossible for them to accomplish; with the memory of what those 'tasers' that some of them had acquired in place of suckers could do to people, I wasn't in the mood for suffering any more damage than I had to.

I wasn't sure if the chains we had to wear or the potential threat of the tasers were worse. The tasers hurt, but that was only if we actually tried to escape and 'forced' the Daleks to use them. Given that we were stuck on a shattered planet light-years away from anyone else with nobody aware of where we were or what our situation was, the chains did nothing but reinforce the idea that we were only alive as long as the Daleks wanted us to be.

Not that I was likely to forget that part of this whole mess, of course; the eleven-year-old girl working alongside us was enough proof of that. Work groups were apparently divided into groups of four, with a few other prisoners off to the side, most likely to allow the Daleks to create a new group after they exterminated a previous one for failing to work to their 'standards'. With a group having been exterminated shortly before our arrival, the Daleks had swiftly 'assigned' Koral, Cuttin' Edge and I to take the previous group's place, and, since we were one person short, this little girl, Kuli, had been dragged out from the waiting prisoners and left with us...

I tried not to feel sick at the memory of what the Daleks had done to her mother simply for wanting to stay with her child, but I still acknowledged to myself that it was only what I'd seen when James and Laurent had been killed that really allowed me to keep what little food I'd eaten recently down. The sight of that little girl, struggling to hold back her tears as she found herself stuck with nothing but strangers for company while her mother's body lay only a short distance away from us...

God, if the Daleks thought that emotions made us weak, I only had to look at Kuli and know that they were talking crap; that little girl struggling to hold on to her control even after such a devastating loss was all the proof I needed.

Of course, Cuttin' Edge wasn't doing too badly either; as much as the older man had gotten on my nerves on the _Wayfarer_ , I had to admire his strength. He still had some trouble maintaining his balance after the damage the Daleks had caused to his legs in their earlier attack after he'd protested when they'd killed Scrum, but he had so far managed to keep standing without obviously leaning on any of us for support. Even if Koral occasionally had to grab his shoulder to stop him from tipping over, he still refused to give in to his pain simply because of what the Daleks would do to all of us if he showed any kind of weakness.

As my pickaxe dug into the granite in front of me for what felt like the millionth time, I wished that I could just take this axe and ram it into a Dalek shell instead; if it weren't for those damn forcefields making them almost _tougher_ than vampires, I'd have taken a swing at them already just to have the satisfaction of doing _something_ to them...

Even with the best will in the world, however, I knew that we weren't going to last much longer; even if Cuttin' Edge wasn't trying to show his weakness, the heat and the chains had definitely pushed us to our limits, and Kuli in particular was clearly scared to death at what might be about to happen to us.

"Don't give in now," Koral said grimly.

"You know..." I panted, as I tried to weakly raise my axe for another blow, "just because... _you're_... tough enough... to cope... doesn't mean... we all are..."

"I don't want to die!" Kuli said, shaking with sobs. "I don't want to die!"

"Sssh..." I said, pausing to reach awkwardly over to give Kuli an affectionate pat on the arm. "Just... just keep it up; we'll be fine..."

I couldn't help but wish that Esme was here; she might not have been able to do anything about the fact that we were almost certainly about to get killed (Although her vampire strength would have allowed us to make more progress than what we had so far), but she could have probably offered Kuli a lot more comfort at a time like this than I ever could...

Despite the weakness of the attempted comfort, Kuli nevertheless smiled over at me with a tearful smile.

"Thank you," she said awkwardly.

"No," Cuttin' Edge said, his teeth gritted in resolution. "You helped me. I could hardly stand and you kept me goin'. All of you."

"It's not over yet," Koral said resolutely.

"It is now," Cuttin' Edge said, glancing grimly over at a cloud of sulphur in the distance.

I didn't see what he was looking at in the cloud at first, but then I saw two Daleks emerging from that cloud- Cuttin' Edge must have noticed them earlier because of his military training-, and realised what was coming.

" **WORK UNIT DELTA**!" one of the Daleks said, looking directly at us. " **STEP FORWARD!** "

Only the fact that we were nowhere near the time when the Daleks would give the order to execute the least productive team allowed me to even remotely relax, and that was poor comfort considering what the Doctor and the _Wayfarer_ crew had told me about the Daleks so far.


	8. The Doctor's Deal

As the four of us were walked back into the prison control room- I wondered if Kulli had been this way before, but now wasn't the time to ask her that kind of thing-, I quickly saw what must have prompted the Daleks to call us back; the Doctor was standing in the room with a small group of Daleks, including one apparently new Dalek who gave an impression of malice that somehow surpassed every other Dalek we'd seen in this place so far.

"Bella!" the Doctor said, smiling as he saw us enter the room. "Koral! Cuttin' Edge!"

I was only slightly mollified when his grin faltered as he took in our more decrepit physical appearance after the hours of physical labour we'd just put in during the mines; I hated to sound bitter, but I might have felt better if he'd actually shown some signs of torture himself, although I admitted that the Daleks could probably do something that would attack his nervous system or something like that...

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Hi there," Cuttin' Edge said grimly, his expression rapidly souring as he took in the Doctor's position alongside the Daleks.

"What's goin' on?" he asked grimly. "You colludin' with this scum now?"

"No," the Doctor replied, with a simplicity of tone that would allow for no argument. "No, I'm not."

" **THE DOC-TOR IS REFUSING TO COOPERATE WITH THE DALEKS** ," the Dalek that seemed to have taken what Alice or somebody might have described as an 'overdose of mean' said. " **THAT POSITION IS ABOUT TO BE REVERSED.** "

"No," the Doctor said, looking desperately over at the Dalek. "You can't do this..."

" **INCORRECT.** "

" **BRING FORWARD THE PRISONERS WHO CAME TO ARKHEON WITH THE DOC-TOR** ," another Dalek said (I thought that this one looked like the commander who'd 'greeted' us earlier, but I couldn't be sure).

As soon as the order had been obeyed, the two remaining members of the _Wayfarer_ 's crew and I were dragged forward, leaving Kulli to collapse to her knees on the floor, silently sobbing but clearly too scared to do anything that might attract the Daleks' attention.

" **IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY WITH DALEK INSTRUCTIONS THAN INNOCENT LIVES WILL BE LOST** ," the new Dalek said. " **IT IS YOUR DECISION**."

"I won't be bullied into helping you," the Doctor said, staring desperately back at the Dalek. "There's too much at stake!"

" **THESE TWO PRISONERS ARE IDENTIFIED AS COMBATANTS** ," the Dalek said. " **THEY EXPECT TO DIE IN THE LINE OF DUTY. THEREFORE THERE IS NO VALUE IN THEIR EXTERMINATION**."

I didn't need Jasper's level of military knowledge to know that the fact that they'd only referred to Koral and Cuttin' Edge with that last statement to know that the distinction between me and them couldn't be good news...

Then the apparently new Dalek came up towards me, its plunger extended outwards so that it was practically in my face, and I had a sinking feeling that things were just about to become a whole lot worse.

" **ARTRON ENERGY RESIDUE DETECTED** ," the Dalek said, rolling back and lowering its plunger as it studied me. " **YOU ARE A COMPANION OF THE DOCTOR, AND YOU ARE A NON-COMBATANT. YOUR VALUE AS A HOSTAGE IS MORE SIGNIFICANT**."

" _No_!" a voice suddenly screamed from behind me, the sound of the speaker leaving me feeling like my heart had just been replaced with a block of ice as Kulli was forced forward from her original position to stand beside me; evidently, while she might not be a companion of the Doctor, Kulli's 'non-combatant' status was clearly enough for the Daleks.

"Oh God..." I whispered, crouching down slightly so that I could give Kulli a hug- the only thing I felt that I _could_ do in this situation- as Daleks from all around the room began to line up in front of us. Not wanting to look at the Doctor, I forced myself to remember what the Doctor had said- whatever the Daleks wanted his cooperation with, it _couldn't_ be anything good-, praying that the stories I'd heard about Dalek weaponry was an exaggeration of just how _much_ what was about to happen was going to hurt...

" **EX-!** "

" _All right_!" the Doctor suddenly yelled. "All right! All right. Stop! I'll do it."

As I opened my eyes, I saw the new Dalek turn to look at the Doctor, my strange new friend staring intently back at the Dalek.

"I'll give you the TARDIS," the Doctor said, his hands in his pockets as though he needed to have them somewhere else to stop himself doing anything he shouldn't, "but there are conditions."

" **NOT VALID**."

"Wait. It's important."

Still staring at the Dalek, the Doctor took a deep breath before he began to speak again, his voice shaking with fury with every word that passed his lips. "I'm giving you everything here. All of history opened up like a book for you to rip the pages out and start again! The very least you can do is hear me out!"

" **CONTINUE**."

"My TARDIS requires a crew of six to function properly," the Doctor said. "Together with myself, I need Bella, Koral, Cuttin' Edge, Major Bowman, and the girl."

" **THE GIRL DID NOT ARRIVE HERE WITH YOU** -" Dalek X began.

"Bella and I can teach her what she needs to know; it won't take long, and it will make everything else go a _lot_ more smoothly," the Doctor interjected, his gaze still fixed on the Dalek. "Hurt her, and she's just one of many to you; let her help us, and she can be a _lot_ more use to you."

As I held the shaking Kulli, I hoped that the Doctor had some kind of plan for dealing with the Daleks _before_ we reached that stage of events; I wasn't sure Kuli had the nerve to do anything when Daleks were present after she'd been given the chance to break down like this...

" **NO FURTHER CONDITIONS** ," the Dalek said, turning to address another Dalek after the Doctor nodded in response. " **RELEASE THE HUMAN PRISONER AND HAVE HIM BROUGHT HERE!** "

" **I OBEY!** " the Dalek said, heading for another door as the new Dalek- who it was becoming increasingly clear was some kind of high-up in the Dalek hierarchy- turned back to the Doctor.

" **TELL ME THE LOCATION OF YOUR TARDIS!** " it said.

"Hurala," the Doctor replied simply.

" **PLANETOID KX-NINE IN THE LASRON SOLAR REGION!** "

"Of course you'd know it; that's where this all started after all."

" **WE WILL PROCEED IMMEDIATELY. PREPARE THE EXTERMINATOR FOR DEPARTURE**."

"There is just one other thing..." the Doctor began.

" **NO MORE CONDITIONS!** "

"This isn't a condition," the Doctor corrected the Dalek as politely as he could. "It's just a word of advice. The TARDIS is actually grounded at the moment."

" **EXPLAIN!** " the Dalek said (I only just managed to stop myself smiling at this new turn of events; it was a subtle little lie, but at least this made it obvious that the Doctor _did_ have something in mind, given that the TARDIS had been perfectly fine when we left the ship).

"Its spatial motivator is all to cock; why else d'you think I left it on Hurala?" the Doctor clarified. "It'll be fine for what you want, but you'll need to remove the time rotor."

" **SUMMON THE TEMPORAL RESEARCH TEAM** ," the Dalek said, turning to address its fellows. " **IT CAN MAKE THE NECESSARY TECHNICAL ARRANGEMENTS ON HURALA**."

As the command Dalek headed off to continue issuing orders, the Doctor walked over to join our small group.

"Crew members?" Koral asked, frowning at the Doctor.

"Don't mention it," the Doctor murmured, before he crouched down to join me. "Who's she?"

"Kuli," I replied, looking up at the Doctor with a slight smile. "She was assigned to our work group; her mother... well..."

"I see," the Doctor said, the sadness in his eyes clearly showing his understanding of what I was trying not to say in front of the girl as he smiled at her. "Hello, Kuli- and that's a nice name, by the way-, I'm the Doctor; I'm a friend of Bella's."

"Hi..." Kuli sniffed, looking up and smiling weakly at the Doctor.

"There you go," the Doctor said, smiling back at her. "Chin up, eh, Kuli? We'll get you through this..."

" **MOVE**!" the Dalek commander said as a door opened, prompting us all to glance in its direction just in time to see Bowman walk through the door. " **WAIT IN THE CENTRE OF THE ROOM!** "

"Bowman!" Koral said, suddenly seemingly revitalised by this proof that he was still with us.

"Didn't think you'd get rid of me that easy, did you?" Bowman asked with a grim smile.

"Are you OK?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah," Bowman replied, the grim expression on his face becoming even grimmer as he looked at the Doctor. "They pushed me around a bit but they never got as far as the knives. I take it you're to blame?"

"He's cut a deal with the Daleks," Cuttin' Edge said, glaring over at the Doctor. "Like some kinda collab-"

"Like a man who is _trying_ to get us somewhere where can actually _do_ something to help us," I interrupted, glaring over at the other man resolutely. "You don't have to like it, but if it weren't for the Doctor, we'd just be _stuck_ here-!"

"And we're _really_ going to get anywhere just because we're not stuck in some massive prison?" Cuttin' Edge asked. "We're movin' from a planet to a cell on a ship; that's not that much of an improvement-!"

" **PROCEED TO LANDING PORT!** " a Dalek yelled, cutting off whatever else Cuttin' Edge might have to say.

" **MOVE!** " another Dalek yelled, taking up position behind us as we were forced to advance out of the room, heading back to the platform to take us back to the surface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Given that the events of their subsequent escape from the Daleks aren't changed much from the original- particularly since Bella isn't going to be there for the _really_ hard part-, the next chapter will jump to the aftermath of their escape, although I'll explain what happened in the intervening time.


	9. Future Earth

Looking back on the events of the day or so that had elapsed since we left Arkheon, I still found it slightly hard to believe that we'd managed to get out of that whole mess that we'd found on Hurala only losing Cuttin' Edge.

Admittedly, the whole situation after we got off the Dalek ship- during which I'd spent most of my time trying to help the others comfort Kulli as much as we could; there was only so much you could do to help a girl you'd never met before a few hours ago- was all a bit of a rushed blur, but the essential details were still fairly clear.

The moment when Cuttin' Edge had sacrificed himself to give the rest of us time to run away from the Daleks by attacking one of them while we were still on the stairs was something I thought I'd always remember- the fact that he was able to grab a Dalek while another one was shooting at him was particularly impressive if what I'd heard on the _Wayfarer_ about Dalek weaponry being specifically designed to cause pain was accurate-, even if those moments I'd spent hurrying through the ventilation system with Kuli in a desperate attempt to reach the TARDIS without the Daleks finding us were more of a blur than anything else.

I still wasn't certain if the key the Doctor had given me had actually _done_ anything to help my chances to escape- I trusted him, but all that stuff about the key having a 'perception filter' seemed a bit unlikely to me-, but we'd finally made it to the TARDIS, the two of us waiting inside the ship- after I'd managed to calm Kuli down after her initial reaction to the interior- before the Doctor and Koral came to the ship.

After the Doctor had taken a quick hop to pick up Bowman from the lower levels of the base, we'd departed from the planet just as something had apparently exploded outside the TARDIS, the blast so powerful that the entire ship had been apparently knocked over at least- we'd definitely not been standing at the usual ninety degrees for a few moments there- before the Doctor had regained control and set the coordinates for Earth in the present.

Since then, I'd been sitting outside the large building that apparently housed Earth Command Headquarters- I tried to take encouragement from the fact that we'd managed to get our act together long enough to form a unified world government, even if I wondered what that meant for us in cultural terms-, watching the park outside the building as the various children played with their friends, a world of innocence so far removed from what we'd seen mere hours ago on the front lines of the Dalek war it was almost hard to believe that this was the same time. Judging by Kuli's wide eyes and hesitant smile as she sat alongside me, she was finding it equally hard to believe, which went some way towards making me feel better, even if she still seemed slightly reluctant to actually go out and join them.

"It's moments like this that make it all worthwhile, really," the Doctor said, smiling as he sat alongside Kuli and I, staring out at the various flying car-like vehicles- it was good to know that _some_ 'future stereotypes' would come to pass- and distant spaceships flying through Earth's sky.

"The moments of peace in between the instances of mind-numbing terror?" I said, looking teasingly over at the Doctor as I spoke.

"Well, I-" the Doctor began awkwardly.

"Don't worry about it," I said, holding up a hand to half whatever negative spin he might have been about to put on what I'd just said. "Trust me, I... had a couple of close calls back before you picked me up that make some of the things we've run into practically relaxing by comparison."

It was a slight exaggeration, but the principle was sound; my confrontations with Laurent and James might not have been as scary as my recent time as a Dalek prisoner on Hurala, but there was still a difference, however slight, between facing beings who were definitely going to kill me _immediately_ and beings who were at least willing to let me live for the moment if it was 'convenient' (Weird logic, I knew, but given that I'd fallen in love with somebody who should have been trying to _eat_ me if he'd been a conventional member of his species, I felt that it was safe to say I wasn't exactly normal when it came to issues like that).

"Besides," I continued, indicating the scene before us with a smile, "when it gives me a chance to see something like this, I can't exactly complain about minor details like occasionally poor company, can I?"

"That's not including me, right?" Kulli asked, looking over at me with a slightly apprehensive manner.

"No, of course not; it's been _great_ meeting you," I reassured her, smiling warmly back at her as she grinned at me in return. "Daleks, on the other hand... not exactly who you want to run into on a good day, are they?"

"Not if it's a day like this, anyway," the Doctor said, smiling as he studied the world before us, nodding in approval as another couple of spaceships flew off towards the upper atmosphere. "That's what I like about you lot, really; for all your faults, when it counts, you _really_ manage to come through."

For a moment, we sat in silence, until Kuli spoke at last, a slight sniff to her voice as she looked sadly at the park.

"I just..." she said, swallowing slightly as her eyes gleamed with unshed tears. "I wish Mum was here..."

Looking at the Doctor, I was suddenly struck by the intensity in his eyes as he looked at this little girl between us, this little girl who, like him, had lost all of her family in such a short space of time...

"I know what you mean," the Doctor said at last, moving over to sit down beside Kuli, a sympathetic smile on his face as he looked at the young girl. "When I first started travelling after I lost _my_ family, one of the things I most regretted was that I'd never be able to share what I was seeing with them... but you do have something I'd have given anything to have."

"What?" Kuli asked.

"A mother who loved you," the Doctor replied, smiling at the young girl. "My family... well, they weren't _bad_ , but they just didn't understand me; from what you've told us, all that mattered to your mother was your happiness, and that gives you something that you can always remember even now."

"Good thing to remember," another voice said from behind us; glancing back, I wasn't entirely surprised to see that Bowman and Koral were walking towards us, although Bowman's scars and crutches made it clear that he still had a long way to go before he was back to normal (I tried not to think about what it said about humanity if we still hadn't improved our medical abilities to help us treat that kind of damage better; I'd prefer to think that the Daleks were just that good at causing pain rather than think that we were that bad at healing it). "That's one thing the Daleks _can't_ take away from us."

"Our willingness to help each other for more than just the sake of warfare," the Doctor finished, smiling in approval at Bowman. "Good thing to remember."

"I try," Bowman replied, his arm linking with Koral's as he looked at the Doctor and I with a slight smile. "I thought you'd be long gone."

"Nah," the Doctor replied, indicating the scene in front of us. "There's something about Earth. I just can't seem to stay away."

"Come on, what's the real reason?" Bowman continued. "Don't tell us you weren't tempted to just take off in that TARDIS thing. What's the real reason?"

"I dunno," the Doctor said at last (I didn't mind; even when I'd asked him to give me a chance to look at what Earth had become since my time, I'd known that there was more to his reasons for agreeing to my request than the obvious. "Unfinished business, I suppose. How did it go?"

"Pretty good," Bowman replied. "The Dalek fleet is in complete disarray. The loss of the _Exterminator_ has knocked them right back, along with any plans to use time-travel technology. The Supreme Dalek's Temporal Research Team bit the dust along with everything else on Hurala."

"That's good," the Doctor replied (Personally, I thought it sounded great, but given his knowledge of the future I accepted that the Doctor was probably comparatively less enthusiastic about something he was probably fairly sure wouldn't impact the Daleks' future). "And the prison?"

"Earth Command has a squadron of ships on its way to seize Arkheon and liberate the prisoners," Bowman replied.

Glancing over at the Doctor, I shared a smile with him at that news; even if the Daleks themselves weren't going to be defeated any time soon in this timeline, at least we could ensure that nobody else would have to endure what the five of us had endured in that nightmarish mine.

"That could be quite a battle," the Doctor added, although his slight smile as he looked over at our new friends.

"Yeah," Bowman replied.

"They asked Bowman to lead the mission," Koral added, pulling him closer to her with a warm smile. "But he refused."

"I'm too old for that kinda thing now," Bowman said, a slightly regretful tone to his voice even if he didn't exactly appear to be that broken up about it. "That's what Koral says, anyway. Besides, I've got better things to be doing with my time."

"He's taking me to meet his parents," Koral clarified.  
  
"You old dog," the Doctor said, a slight laugh to his tone.  
  
"Gotta start tying up some loose ends," Bowman said. "Earth Command's given me a full pardon. Seems I've pulled their fat out of the fire again. Now it's time to see my folks."  
  
"I'm glad," the Doctor said.  
  
I briefly thought about asking if anyone had been able to get in touch with whatever family the other members of the _Wayfarer_ crew might have had on Earth- from what I'd heard Koral was the last of her kind, but there were still three other people who might have left someone behind-, but the solemn expression on the Doctor, Bowman and Koral's faces told me that they were already thinking about that; the fact that they hadn't mentioned it was only because it wasn't necessary rather than because they didn't care.  
  
"Well, talking of loose ends... I've a few of my own to tie up before I get the TARDIS back on the right time track," the Doctor began, before he reached over to place his hand on Kuli's shoulder. "And among those loose ends is the fact that this young woman here needs a place to live..."  
  
For a moment there was an awkward silence around the bench as we exchanged glances with each other, nobody clearly sure what the appropriate thing was to say after the Doctor's last 'offer', before Kuli broke the silence.  
  
"Can I... stay with you?" she asked, looking uncertainly at Koral and Bowman.  
  
A part of me was slightly hurt that she hadn't asked if she could come with the Doctor and I in the TARDIS, but on the other hand I could understand it; as much as Kulli had found the TARDIS interesting, she'd seemed more than slightly uncomfortable when inside it.  
  
Here on Earth, on the other hand, while she was clearly just as much in awe of the planet as she was in awe of the TARDIS, it was the kind of amazement you felt when you realised you were somewhere incredible _and_ safe... and, after seeing her mother die in front of her, I could definitely appreciate Kulli's desire to find somewhere safe to stay.  
  
Besides... as much as I'd liked her company in the short term, I wasn't sure I was ready to have someone else become the 'junior crewmember' in the TARDIS; after my epiphany about my attitude towards my relationship with Edward in the Arkheon mines, I had come to the realisation that I had more than a few personal issues to deal with beyond the fact that I hadn't been enough for Edward.  
  
It might have felt a bit like I was compounding my previous selfishness, but I couldn't help it; when I was still trying to figure out who _I_ was, the last thing I needed was to have to try and be a 'role model' for somebody else (The Doctor would be there as well, but I was the older female; I'd pretty much _have_ to be there for her for... certain issues... that might come up)...  
  
"You'll be fine," the Doctor was saying to Koral and Bowman as he shook their hands.  
  
"Thanks," I said, giving them a handshake of my own before I smiled down at Kuli. "And thanks for being there for back on Arkheon."  
  
"But you were there for _me_..." Kuli began, looking at me in confusion.  
  
"We were there for each other, Kuli," I said, smiling warmly back at her innocent confusion at my attempted praise. "Little things like who helped who more aren't important."  
  
After I gave the little girl one last hug, the Doctor and I headed back for the TARDIS, the Doctor giving Bowman and Koral one last slightly ironic salute before we stepped through the doors, the Doctor promptly sealing them behind him as he headed for the console.  
  
"So... where to now?" I asked him, as he began to activate the dematerialisation function. "Back to our... timeline?"  
  
"Yep; just got one or two things to attend to here first, and then we can be off back home," the Doctor told me with a reassuring smile.  
  
If it hadn't been for all the time I'd spent with Edward and his family over the months before they left me, I might not have noticed the slightly haunted expression in his eyes at that last statement...


	10. The Worth of a Life

As I stepped out of the TARDIS doors just behind the Doctor, I was momentarily confused at the sight of wreckage that I was fairly sure had been part of the equipment at the Hurala fuel silo when it was intact, but then I saw the smashed and twisted casing of what could only be Dalek X lying a short distance away from us, and I realised what the Doctor was doing here.

In a dark way, I was actually rather impressed at the amount of damage that Dalek X had sustained; considering that Bowman had only been armed with what sounded to me like a futuristic nail gun rather than anything particularly elaborate, the idea that he'd done this to Dalek X despite the Dalek force field was almost disturbingly impressive. The Dalek casing had been virtually smashed to pieces from the damage it had sustained when the faculty exploded, while only a few pieces of metal were large enough to positively identify the metal as having originally formed a Dalek casing in the first place. Lying in the heart of the pile was the pitiful-looking form of the purple Dalek mutant, its massive yellow eye looking weakly up at the TARDIS door as the Doctor and I stared back at it.

" **YOU... LOCATED... MY... TRANSMISSION...** " Dalek X said at last.

"Yeah, that was easy," the Doctor answered as he sat down, close enough for the Dalek to hear him while not close enough for the thing to touch him. "But there's no one else listening. You're finished. Arkheon is no more. The prisoners have been freed and the Daleks there all wiped out. Thanks to Space Major Bowman, of course. Earth Command is on the offensive. Your lines are in disarray. You're beaten."

After a moment passed with no response from Dalek X, the Doctor shrugged. "Just thought you'd like to know."

" **THE SUPREME DALEK...** " Dalek X began.

"Oh, he's given you up for dead," the Doctor answered. "Besides, I doubt he'd be in a forgiving mood if you did happen to turn up after all this. You're better off down here to be honest."

" **THE ARKHEON THRESHOLD?** "

"Oh , we sealed it," I answered (Admittedly, the Doctor had done all the work, but I'd been there when he'd done it; that had to count for something, right?); the Doctor had assured me that the rift was only still active to the extent required for us to get home, and after that it would become totally useless as the TARDIS 'locked the door' behind us.

"One of the advantages of being a Time Lord with a TARDIS," the Doctor clarified. "It's nice to be able to tie these loose ends up sometimes. The temporal fissure is gone. I put a stitch in time."

" **VERY... THOROUGH** ," Dalek X said, its tone impossible to determine through the traditional Dalek speech pattern. " **YOUR VICTORY IS... TOTAL.** "

"Almost," the Doctor said, frowning as he looked at the creature in front of us. "There's still you, of course. Still here, still alive. You certainly know how to hang on, I'll give you that."

" **THE ASTRONIC RADIONATION WILL KEEP ME ALIVE...** "

"Yeah, I thought there was a smell," the Doctor said, wrinkling his nose as he spoke. "Never mind. It won't do you much good, trapped down here. There's a communications seal around Hurala, part of the radiation quarantine. Five thousand years at least before anyone will hear your cries for help. But neither you nor your batteries will last that long, I'm afraid."

" **I WILL FIND A WAY** ," Dalek X said simply. " **I WILL SURVIVE. THE DALEKS ARE NEVER DEFEATED!** "

I couldn't believe it; the thing in front of us had been reduced to a state that resembled a mutilated grounded jellyfish if I had to compare it to anything from Earth, and it _still_ refused to give up?

"You just don't get it, do you?" the Doctor said, looking pityingly at the lump of flesh and metal before us. "Daleks are _always_ defeated. Always. Because you never learn. You never accept the simple truth- that every other life form in the universe is _better_ than you."

" **INCORRECT**!" Dalek X retorted. " **DALEKS ARE THE SUPREME BEINGS!** "

"There's not a life form in the universe that would volunteer to become a Dalek," the Doctor countered. "Doesn't that tell you anything? Well, _doesn't_ it?"

"Seriously," I added, looking pointedly at the thing in front of me, "you can't even _feel_ anything like that, from what the Doctor's told me; why would anyone _want_ to spend eternity trapped in that stupid thing?"

I wasn't entirely surprised when my inquiry was met with nothing but silence, even if it was slightly disappointing; even when I actually stood up to the monsters, they didn't even acknowledge my existence...

After a moment's silence, the Doctor stood up and turned back to the TARDIS, leaving me to follow behind him.

" **DOC-TOR**!" Dalek X yelled, as I walked into the TARDIS. " **YOUR FAILURE TO DESTROY ME WILL PROVE TO BE YOUR DOWNFALL. I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN...!** "

"Yeah, well, good luck with that," the Doctor said, pausing in the doorway as he turned to glare at Dalek X. "Cos I'll be waiting."

With that, he turned around and closed the door behind him, walking up to the TARDIS console and activating the necessary switches to send the ship back into wherever it went when we were travelling (I still wasn't clear on what the 'Time Vortex' he'd mentioned was...).

"So... that's it?" I asked, looking inquiringly at him. "We're finished here?"

"Yep; just got to seal up the last of the crack left by the Arkheon Threshold, and we can get back to our universe," the Doctor replied, nodding at me with a slightly grim expression in his eyes that I didn't like. "And then..."

"Then?" I asked, looking at him in confusion.

"Then... I'll get you home?" he asked.

I felt like the bottom had dropped out of my world again at that news; I'd done my best in a terrifying situation, and even _that_ still wasn't enough.

I should have known better than to get my hopes up; I couldn't maintain Edward's interest when he'd just had Earth to distract him, and the Doctor had the whole _universe_...

"I mean," the Doctor continued, clearly unaware of my own reaction, "you didn't exactly start travelling with me to get stuck in a mine; if you-"

"Hold on; you think I _want_ to leave?" I interrupted, unsure if I wanted to laugh or yell at this revelation. "That's the _furthest_ thing from my mind!"

"Really?" the Doctor said, looking at me in surprise. "But... well, look, I apologise in advance if this is a tricky topic- I'm bad with people sometimes; say whatever pops into my head without thinking about how they'll react to it, you know- but after what... what _happened_ to you before-"

"Edward leaving me is _not_ the same as what happened here," I said, my almost traditional pain at that thought pushed aside as I looked at the Doctor; right now, if I wanted to continue travelling with my incredible new friend, past pain had to be put aside in favour of the more immediate issue. "He just... walked out of my life without providing any reason why apart from the fact that he'd grown tired of me; what hurt then was the fact that I didn't know why he'd... strung me along for so long..."

I paused for a moment, fighting back the ache in my chest that felt like someone was trying to tear my heart out once again, before I turned my focus back to the Doctor. "The point is, what I had to deal with while I was being held prisoner by the Daleks was bad, but at least I knew _why_ I was there..."

"But you were in danger-!" the Doctor began.

"I was practically running into danger back home too; at least here I know you'll help me stay alive," I replied (I briefly wondered if that comment was being unfair to Jacob, but I pushed that thought aside; Jacob might have wanted to help me, but he also made it relatively clear more than once that he wanted me to _move on_ , whereas the Doctor just wanted to help me for _me_ without any thought of getting something out of it himself). "I get that it's not always going to be safe, Doctor, but I accepted the offer because I wanted to see new places; I'm not going to give up just because they're a bit dangerous at times."

I might not be much of a 'thrill-seeker', but if the idea of dating a vampire hadn't intimidated me, it was unlikely that anything else would.

"Besides..." I continued, pausing for a moment as I looked at the ship around me, smiling at the warm feeling it gave me- I'd only been here for a few days, and already the TARDIS felt like home in a way that most places took a while to accomplish- before I continued, "while I was down there, I had a chance to take a look at myself, and..."

I swallowed, hating what I'd almost done before I had my latest epiphany, before I continued speaking. "And I didn't like what I saw."

"What?" the Doctor said, looking at me in surprise (Even with what I was about to say, a part of me was touched that he was offended on my behalf, even if I was the one who'd insulted me). "Bella, there's no need to be hard on yourself; we've all made a few mistakes-"

"But I didn't even realise it _was_ a mistake until I was down there, Doctor," I said, shaking my head firmly as I looked back at him (I'd spent too much of my time with Edward letting him 'take charge'; if I was going to stay with the Doctor, I was going to make sure that he knew what I wanted and would accept it). "I'd been... well, to put it bluntly, I'd been a selfish, inconsiderate idiot... and... I wouldn't have realised what I was doing if it hadn't been for the chance I got to travel with you."

"Ah, you'd have got there in the end; you're a resilient lot, you humans-" the Doctor began, looking around the console room with an awkward smile as though he wasn't sure if he should be proud or embarrassed at my admission.

"But you helped me get there _now_ ," I said firmly, walking over to the Time Lord and giving him an impulsive hug (I briefly thought about stopping when I felt him tense up underneath my arms, but then he relaxed and I pushed it aside; he maybe just didn't do this kind of thing that much).

"The point is," I said as I pulled away from the hug and smiled at the Doctor, "what we just went through might have been dangerous, but we helped people while we were doing it, and..."

My smile broadened slightly, even if I felt slightly awkward admitting this. "I liked it."

I might not have ever really thought about helping others like this back when I was in Forks or when I'd been living with Renee- leaving her to stay with Charlie had just been the easiest way to give her and Charlie something they'd both like; I hadn't actually needed to do anything _myself_ -, but after so long being the victim at best and the person who _caused_ the problem at worst- James would never have been an issue for the Cullens if I hadn't been there-, it was nice to feel like I'd actually _helped_ someone.

"I mean," I said, shrugging slightly awkwardly, "I get that helping Kulli and Cuttin' Edge wasn't that much in the grand scheme of things-"

"Little things can add up to a lot over time, Bella," the Doctor interrupted me, smiling warmly at me as he placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Sometimes we don't always get to make a big impact on things- I once spent the better part of thirty years walking through interstitial space just to open a door-, but I don't exactly help people for the recognition; I help them because..."

He paused for a moment, waving a hand vaguely as he tried to think of the best term for what he was trying to say, before he finally shrugged. "Because I have the _ability_ to help them."

"Yeah..." I said, nodding thoughtfully as I turned to look at the central console as it began moving, a slight smile on my face as I took in the increasingly familiar sound of the ship that was my new home as it took us back to our timeline. "That's... that's a good reason."

It was kind of similar to Carlisle's reasons for helping people, when I thought about it; he'd had centuries to gather experience and knowledge about how to help others with his medical training, and he took every opportunity he could get to use that knowledge.

Travelling with the Doctor...

Well, I might not be able to do anything _really_ useful yet, but the idea that I'd stood on other worlds, met aliens, and even seen a planet's _core_ was too incredible for me to stop now, even without the potential opportunities available for me to help the Doctor help more people.

I'd been given a chance to learn and discover more about myself while also learning more about the universe itself; what kind of person turned down an opportunity like that?

"So... you're staying, then?" the Doctor asked.

"As long as you want me to," I replied, hoping I hadn't let any of my desperation slip into my voice; I didn't want to appear _too_ needy...

"Yep," the Doctor confirmed, smiling at me as he casually flicked a couple of switches on the TARDIS console. "Just let me get us back through that rift, and then I've got the _perfect_ stop in mind..."


End file.
